You are now entering Mylar season, if you’re not careful, prepare for power outages, fires

The normally diplomatic Southern California Edison talks bluntly about power outages caused by metallic party balloons.

“It is a problem that shows no end,” reads a written statement from SCE, the primary supplier of electricity in Southern California, serving 15 million people within 50,000 square miles.

Mylar balloon-caused power outages in SCE territory have increased every year for the past four years, approaching epidemic proportions. From 2014-2018, the number has nearly doubled, from 656 outages to 1,128 per year.

In the first four months this year, there were 353 outages, 18 percent higher than during the same period last year, said Andrew Martinez, vice president of safety, security and business resiliency at Rosemead-based SCE.

SCE customers, along with those served by Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Glendale Water and Power are experiencing more power outages from metallic balloons being set adrift and tangling in power lines than in the past.

All are bracing for what you might call the Mylar season, that time between Mother’s Day on Sunday and graduations in June.

Count in Memorial Day and Father’s Day, and these holidays make May and June the leading months for outages as more and more metallic balloons make their way from parties, family gatherings and celebrations into the air, traveling as far as 2 miles and staying aloft for more than two weeks, the utilities said.

Here are some examples:

From May 4-5, SCE experienced three outages from Mylar balloons hitting transmission wires. The total impact: 7,000 customers lost power. In Glendora and Azusa, power went out from 5:30 p.m. to 2 a.m.; in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, power was out from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m; the third outage was in Huntington Park where residents were left without power during Cinco de Mayo from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Also from May 4-5, Glendale’s utility reported two separate outages caused by errant Mylar balloons, affecting 3,055 customers. In two other instances this year, lineman removed balloons from power lines before they caused an outage, GWP reported.

From May 14-27, 2018, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power recorded 36 outages from Mylar balloons affecting 43,000 homes and businesses. For that time period, this represented 45% of the total number of customers affected by power outages. That did not include a May 12, 2018 outage, putting 2,450 people in the dark in the Harbor/Gateway region. This year’s statistics were not available.

“Power outages caused by Mylar balloons coming into contact with power lines are on a record pace,” GWP stated in a prepared statement.

The metal coating on Mylar balloons conduct electricity. When the helium-filled balloons are set aloft, they can cause a short circuit, a power outage or a power surge when they contact power lines.

Martinez said the power outages have caused elevators to stop, shut down hospital equipment and medical devices in homes and snarled traffic for blocks. Those co-called minimal effects can, in rarer instances, become major when they down a live power line and start a brush fire.

Crews responding to a balloon twisted in a wire put themselves at risk, he said.

“Last year, a crew was working on a pole when the foreman noticed a group of (metallic) balloons coming toward them. He quickly removed the workers from the pole. Moments later, the balloon hit the pole and caused an explosion,” Martinez said.

“We don’t make this stuff up,” he added.

SCE Troubleman Scott Brown, speaking at a press conference at a party store, remembered how an SCE-issued flame-retardant shirt saved him from serious injury. While he was taking down the balloons, one caught fire and showered burning debris onto his clothes.

“If I were wearing a cotton or polyester shirt, I probably would have suffered some significant burns,” Brown told the media and store employees.

The Planning and Conservation League said metallic balloons can reach trees, lakes and streams and end up as litter. Other environmental groups have reported they end up in the ocean and are eaten by sea turtles, causing illness or death.

Two bills within the past 11 years have attempted to ban the sale of metallic balloons in California. Both were killed after some strong lobbying from balloon manufacturers and retail trade groups.

In 2016, the Balloon Council argued against a ban proposed by Assemblyman Bill Quirk, D-Hayward. Represntatives said a ban would cut sales of 60 million foil balloons each year and eliminate 22,000 jobs. Party store owners and balloon-makers would lose at least 30% of revenue and would have to seriously consider going out of business, the group claimed.

The group told this news organization that any ban would affect mom and pop businesses that rely on metallic balloons as a substantial part of their business. A 2008 bill banning these balloons authored by Pasadena Democrat Jack Scott failed.

Indeed, business at Balloon Emporium & Party Store in Pasadena was hopping on Thursday. A frazzled Shane Charles Sourgose, general manager, said he was late getting his morning orders out the door and onto delivery vans and was too busy to talk to a reporter. In the afternoon, he refused to talk about the business or whether he warned buyers about the restrictions. He did not respond to questions left with a clerk.

Any Occasion Balloons in downtown Los Angeles also did not take a reporter’s phone calls.

Martinez said the utility is noticing more metallic balloons at events and believes sales are rising.

Recent bills that became law include a requirement to sell the balloons with a weight that holds them to the ground. A bill that became effective Jan. 1 requires the Mylar balloons contain a warning printed in a readable font that says: “Not intended for release. Use with counterweight. Dispose of properly.”

“Sure, it is California law that weights come with the balloons. But a lot of times people remove them. They tie them to a post or they give them to their kids,” said Atineh Haroutunian, public benefits and marketing manager with GWP.

Horoutunian said GWP is asking customers not to remove the weights, never attach any streamers to the helium metal balloons and of course never give them to a child or tie them to a person’s wrist.

What should you do with them after the party? “People should cut them up and throw them away. Even a semi-inflated balloon will get into the air,” she said.

SCE has launched new public service announcements aired during NBA playoff games, Martinez said.

If someone sees a metallic balloon in wires or even in a tree, he added, the recommendation is to call 911.