San Francisco Power Outage Affects 130,000 Customers

On Saturday, a substantial power outage in San Francisco left approximately 130,000 Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) customers without electricity, affecting about 30% of the city. The outage began in the morning, initially impacting neighborhoods such as the Richmond and Presidio districts, and areas around Golden Gate Park, before expanding to other parts of the city.

The San Francisco Fire Department reported a fire at a PG&E substation located at 8th and Mission streets around 2:15 p.m., which contributed to the outages. Fire crews managed to control the blaze by 4:24 p.m., with no reported injuries.

The power failure led to widespread disruptions, including the closure of restaurants and shops, darkened traffic lights, and significant transit delays. Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stations at Powell Street and Civic Center were closed, and Muni and Central Subway systems halted service. The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management advised residents to avoid nonessential travel and treat non-functioning traffic signals as four-way stops.

PG&E stated that it had stabilized the power grid and did not anticipate additional outages at that time. However, the company was unable to confirm when power would be fully restored to all affected customers.