UPDATE: SCE Spokesperson Says Trash Appeared To Be Stuffed In Vent Pipe To Downtown LB Underground Power Vault (Pine/Ocean) Where Smoke Rose And LBFD Doused Fire; No Power Outages Reported

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(Aug. 22, 2016, 7:55 p.m., updated at 9:20 p.m. and 9:34 p.m.) -- SCE spokesperson Maureen Brown tells LBREPORT.com that it appears someone stuffed trash into a vent pipe to a downtown LB underground power vault at Pine Ave./Ocean Blvd. and a fire occurred to which LBFD responded at about 5:43 p.m. today and quickly extinguished.

The vent pipe is about a foot in diameter, has ventilation holes, is near the curb and protrudes about three feet high. Photo right is SCE file photo from another location, provided at LBREPORT.com's request for illustrative purposes.

SCE says someone stuffed trash into one of these in the area of Pine/Ocean. It's not clear exactly what the ignition source for the fire was, but SCE says it will be taking a close look tomorrow.

Ms. Brown said SCE has no reports of any outages stemming from the fire; SCE dispatched an individual to the scene who's reviewed the situation and SCE plans to send a crew tomorrow morning to inspect all of the equipment.

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(August 22, 2016, 7:55 p.m.) -- Smoke coming from a downtown LB SCE power vault at Pine Ave./Ocean Blvd. brought a swift LBFD response at 5:43 p.m. LBFD extinguished the fire. LBPD is on scene with traffic control and SCE is investigating.

LBFD PIO Jake Heflin says LBFD knows of no power outages, and neither do we...but today's incident triggered memories of last summer's fires in SCE power vaults that sent downtown manhole covers flying and darkened sizable parts of LB, at one point stretching from downtown to Wrigley. SCE said it fixed the problem, but about two weeks later, vault fires recurred, prompting SCE to assign major resources to the issues.

SCE workers were visible inspecting multiple underground power vaults; the utility diagnosed what happened, admitted the utility's errors and apologized profusely. The City of LB has said it spent large sums on police, fire, public works and other emergency services during the two lengthy outages...and SCE faces a now-ongoing CA Public Utilities Commission investigation.