Cathryn,
As far as I am concerned they were earthquake lights. We had no power for the first 24 or so hours. A number of people noticed them. They seemed to come from the same general area and did not have the brightness of arcing power lines. I slept out in our campervan for the first few nights and the lights were always followed by a quake. They are hard to describe but did not flash as such, more of a sudden glowing light which lasted a second or two and did not seem to have a point of origin. They came from the Simi Hills area of the Valley which is to the north of my home .
Bob