California Blackouts Spread South as Fire Risk Follows the Wind
- Nearly 30,000 are without power near Los Angeles, San Diego
- Blaze in Sonoma County forces 2,000 people to evacuate
A home burns during the Kincade fire near Geyserville, California, on Oct. 24.
Photographer: Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images
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Even as winds subside in Northern California and PG&E Corp. restores electricity to customers, blackouts are spreading south in a massive effort to keep falling power lines from igniting wildfires.
More than half a million people across the state had lost power by the time PG&E began returning service. About 120,000 of the utility’s customers had their lights back on as of late Thursday. But as winds shift south, Edison International and Sempra Energy increased their outages to include more than 34,000 homes and businesses near Los Angeles and San Diego. They warn more may come.