Bright foil balloons against a blue summer’s sky.
Did you know there's a state law that says helium-filled balloons need to be weighted down? Yes, that's to avoid power outages such as the one that affected more than 2,600 Silicon Valley Power customers on Sunday morning.
Irked customers posting on Twitter wondered if the balloons in question were from a gender reveal party, but that didn't appear to be the case, the utility said, posting a picture of a red balloon ensnared in a power line.
The outage occurred around 10 a.m., and power was restored about an hour later. "Balloons can be a fun way to celebrate, but they're no fun for your neighbors if they get loose and tangled in power lines," the utility tweeted. "Please remember to always tie or weigh them down!"
The California Balloon Law was passed in 1990 to reduce power outages due to metallized Mylar or foil balloons.
The balloon law prohibits the sale or distribution of a balloon that is constructed of electrically conductive material (metallized Mylar or foil) and filled with a gas lighter than air (helium), without affixing an object of sufficient weight to the balloon to keep it from flying away.
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