California power outages swell to 400,000 as fires multiply

(Reuters) -The number of California homes and businesses without electricity ballooned to more than 400,000 on Wednesday, as multiple wildfires raged uncontrollably around Los Angeles.

Fires that started on Tuesday have killed at least five people, destroying hundreds of homes and stretching firefighting resources and water supplies to the limit, as more than 100,000 people were ordered to evacuate.

Virtually all of the state’s outages were in southern California, primarily in Los Angeles and Southern California Edison’s (SCE) primary outage management system is offline, according to PowerOutage.us.

SCE, a subsidiary of U.S. utility Edison International (NYSE:) operating in California, said in a statement that “as of 4 p.m. PST on January 8, about 413,639 SCE customers are without power… and 453,872 customers are under a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) program watch.”

“Given the unsafe conditions for electric power restorations, customers may experience several days of outages. SCE will restore service as soon as it is safe to do so.”

So-called power safety shutoffs happen, in part, to reduce the risk that airborne objects spark additional blazes when they strike power lines, said company spokesperson Jeff Monford, who implored the public to stay away from any downed lines.

It was unknown when power would be restored as the company would have to wait for the period of concern to pass to get crews to fix power lines and other distribution facilities in the affected areas, Monford said.

Shares of the utility tumbled as much as 13.8% to $66.70, hitting its lowest levels since April and on track for the biggest one-day percent drop since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Palisades wildfire has so far burned more than 15,000 acres in the Pacific Palisades area between the beach towns of Santa Monica and Malibu.

Other wildfires have sprung up in neighboring areas, including a 10,600-acre fire near the city of Pasadena and a new blaze in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening, forcing fresh evacuations. Parts of Malibu and Santa Monica are also under evacuation orders.