SARATOGA, Calif. (KGO) — A fire at a substation in Saratoga is under investigation after starting and self-extinguishing Wednesday morning.
This comes in the wake of the other fire in San Francisco, both caused outages to thousands.
SKY7 video shows Richmond firefighters at the scene of a fire at a Public Storage facility Wednesday morning, where large plumes of smoke are visible.
It was an unwelcomed gift on Christmas Eve.
“The electric clocks, you looked to see what time it is and that wasn’t telling me anything,” Saratoga Resident Sandy Teter said. “It’s dead. The music? That wasn’t playing. So, power’s out.”
A fire causing damage at a nearby PG&E substation was the culprit.
MORE: San Francisco’s power outage problems persist even after citywide restoration
Just after 8:30 Wednesday morning, smoke could be seen from as far away as the Cupertino Hills.
“We know it was an equipment failure and you can actually see it from here. It’s that darkened area of the substation,” PG&E spokesperson Stephanie Magallon said. “The fire did stay isolated in that area and that’s where it self-extinguished.”
But the damage was already done.
The fire knocked out power to 16,500 customers, including homes and businesses near downtown Saratoga.
Some shops were forced to close, while business owners and shoppers waited for power to return.
“I was right in the middle of an online meeting, video conference that got cut off, obviously,” Saratoga resident Kamal Anand said.
MORE: Impacted by the SF power outage? Here’s how to file a claim with PG&E
“It did hold up some of our baking because we’re into baking a bunch of goodies for tomorrow,” Saratoga resident Joe D’Souza said. “But, it’s back. And I hope it doesn’t go away.”
After initial estimates of restoration around 2 p.m., 7,000 customers got power back within the first hour after the fire and the rest were back online by noon.
If you’re feeling a little bit of Deja vu, you’re not wrong.
This fire comes just days after another at a San Francisco substation which knocked out power to thousands in the city.
“It’s the holidays, we always want to make sure that our customers feel supported and that they have the power they need – especially at a time like this,” Magallon said. “We knew that storms were coming, or heading our way, so we made sure that we were fully staffed to be able to respond to these types of incidents and other storm-related outages quickly and safely.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation and the town is grateful the situation wasn’t worse.
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