(Reuters) – The number of California homes and businesses without power rose to more than 400,000 on Wednesday as multiple wildfires burned uncontrollably around Los Angeles.
The fires that started Tuesday have killed at least five people, destroyed hundreds of homes and stretched firefighting and water supplies to the limit as more than 100,000 people were ordered to evacuate.
According to PowerOutage.us, virtually all of the state’s power outages have occurred in southern California, primarily in Los Angeles, and Southern California Edison’s (SCE) main outage control system is down.
SCE, a California-based subsidiary of US utility Edison International (NYSE:), said in a statement that “as of 4:00 p.m. PT on January 8, approximately 413,639 SCE customers were without power… and 453,872 the client is under the protection of public safety.” Monitor the Power Shutdown Program (PSPS).
“Given the unsafe conditions for power restoration, customers could experience outages for several days. SCE will restore power as soon as it is safe to do so.”
The so-called blackouts occur in part to reduce the risk that flying objects will cause additional fires when they strike power lines, said company spokesman Jeff Monford, who urged the public to stay away from any downed lines.
It’s unclear when power will be restored because the company will have to wait until the troubled period passes to get crews to repair power lines and other distribution facilities in affected areas, Monford said.
Shares of the utility fell 13.8% to $66.70, hitting their lowest level since April and on track for their biggest one-day percentage drop since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Palisades Wildfire has now burned more than 15,000 acres in the Pacific Palisades area between the beach cities of Santa Monica and Malibu.
Other wildfires have broken out in nearby areas, including a 10,600-acre fire near Pasadena and a new fire in the Hollywood Hills Wednesday night that forced new evacuations. Parts of Malibu and Santa Monica are also under evacuation orders.