A section of Highway 43 near Cairo Avenue, just outside of Laton, was closed for nearly nine hours on Monday after a vehicle crashed into a power pole and caused live electrical wires to fall near the roadway.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. workers hurried to close the busy roadway at 6:30 a.m., rerouting traffic through Laton to prevent drivers from traveling too close to the downed power lines, company officials said.

California Highway Patrol officials in Fresno confirmed that the accident involved a vehicle crashing into a power pole, but could not say what the cause of the accident was this morning

No injuries were reported in the incident. PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith said that less than 100 people lost power as a result of the crash, but only 20 of those customers could not be shifted to a second power grid soon after the incident.

The highway reopened just after 3 p.m.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2425.

(Dec. 16, 2008)