Truck causes power outage to schools and Bijou area; Resulting fire put out

A truck carrying tresses to a new building adjacent to the Beach Retreat & Lodge in South Lake Tahoe hit a power pole, causing a transformer to blow, a small fire and power outages to schools, businesses and homes.

The driver of the truck was lost according to South Tahoe Police, and cut through the Safeway parking lot to try and get to the building through the hotel across the street. As he came out of Safeway onto Johnson Blvd, the truck hit a pole and power lines.

A blown transformer caused a small fire which responding SLTPD officer Donna Kingman was able to put out with the extinguisher from her patrol car.

The first day of school at Bijou Elementary and South Tahoe Middle School had a little extra excitement with the resulting power outage. Also affected were Safeway, the Safeway gas station and other homes and businesses in the area. Power was restored to the area in under an hour. The last two buildings to get power restored are the bike shop and row of businesses housing Sato's and Cup of Cherries.