High temperatures cause power overloads

The heat wave that burdened Bay Area residents last week knocked out power for thousands of residents at sporadic intervals beginning Saturday. About 36,000 South Bay residents were still without power Monday morning. Transformer grids, overloaded with users and with insufficient time to cool down, simply shut down, said PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith. Specific outage information for Los Altos was not available. California set records for power demand July 17 and Friday, breaking the top demand set a year ago, according to the California Independent System Operator Web site.

Fire at restaurant in Mountain View

The Mountain View Fire Department responded to a two-alarm fire at the King of Siam Restaurant on Villa Street at 4:47 p.m. Sunday. A customer walking toward the back of the restaurant noticed smoke emitting from the back porch and alerted staff. The fire was contained by 5:17 p.m. and the cause remains under investigation. The estimated cost of the damage was not reported at press time.

Mtn. View water gets clean bill

Mountain View’s water meets state and federal standards, according to the 2005 Water Quality Consumer Confidence Report. The report provides city of Mountain View customers information about where their drinking water comes from, lists results of water quality tests and explains how to interpret the data.

For more information or to request a copy of the 2005 Water Quality Consumer Confidence Report, call the Public Service Division, 903-6329, or visit mountainview.gov/citynews/pdf/ConsumerConfidenceReport.pdf.

Auto burglaries

Auto burglaries were reported in the last week on Distel Drive (July 20) and Homestead Avenue (Sunday) in Los Altos.