(Reuters) – The number of homes and businesses without power in California rose to more than 400,000 on Wednesday as multiple wildfires burned out of control around Los Angeles.
The fires that broke out on Tuesday killed at least five people, destroyed hundreds of homes and stretched firefighting resources and water supplies to the limit, with more than 100,000 people ordered to evacuate.
Almost all of the state's power outages were in Southern California, especially in Los Angeles and Southern California. Edison's primary outage management system (SCE) is offline, according to PowerOutage.us.
SCE, a subsidiary of US utility Edison International (NYSE:) operating in California, said in a statement: “As of 4 p.m. PT on January 8, approximately 413,639 SCE customers were without power… 453,872 customers are subject to public safety regulations.” Watch the Power Off Program (PSPS).”
“Due to the unsafe conditions to restore electrical power, customers may experience outages for several days. SCE will restore service as soon as it is safe to do so.”
The so-called safety power shutoff occurs in part to reduce the risk of airborne objects sparking additional fires when they strike power lines, said company spokesman Jeff Munford, who implored the public to stay away from any downed lines.
Munford said it is not known when power will be restored as the company will have to wait until the period of concern passes so crews can repair power lines and other distribution facilities in the affected areas.
The facility's shares fell as much as 13.8% to $66.70, hitting their lowest levels since April and on track for the largest single-day 100% drop since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Palisades wildfires have so far burned more than 15,000 acres in the Pacific Palisades area between the beach cities of Santa Monica and Malibu.
Other wildfires burned in nearby areas, including a 10,600-acre blaze near Pasadena and a new blaze in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening, prompting new evacuations. Parts of Malibu and Santa Monica are also under evacuation orders.
