Love may be in the air, but metallic balloons and electrical lines don’t mix

It seems to happen every year around this time: Utility officials blame metallic heart-shaped balloons for messing with electrical wires. And they're issuing warnings about the consequences.

Opposites attract, but when a Mylar balloon float close to a high-voltage power line, the resulting spark can cause a lot of trouble. Think power outages, burnt wires and short circuits.

What happens overhead can wreak havoc on the ground, so utility officials urge anyone who gives or gets those shiny balloons – or latex ones with metallic streamers - to keep them indoors and away from electrical lines.

If the balloons have to be outdoors, hang onto them or anchor them so they don’t drift into the danger zone. If they do get loose and tangled in overhead wires, do not try to retrieve them. Instead, call the nearest utility and report the problem.

The trouble with balloons and power lines isn’t just an urban myth. Southern California Edison reported 478 balloon-related outages in its service area last year. Those blackouts affected about 620,000 Edison customers – and that doesn’t even include the problem for other Southland utilities.