Thousands remain without power inSan Franciscothe morning of Dec. 21 as the city recovers from a major power outage that was caused by a fire at a power facility the day before.
At its peak on Dec. 20, the outage plunged approximately 130,000 PG&E customers in San Francisco into darkness,according to SFGateandthe San Francisco Chronicle, about 30% of the city.
TheUSA TODAY Power Outage trackerindicates that more than 22,000 customers remain without power, as of around 9:30 a.m. local time. ThePG&E Outagepage puts that same figure at around 21,000 as of just after 10 a.m. The majority of the remaining outages are located around the Presidio and Richmond neighborhoods.
"At this time, we are unable to provide a precise timeframe for full restoration but will provide additional detail and information as our assessment and repair efforts continue," PG&E said in an early Dec. 21 update.
Fire at PG&E substation plunges San Francisco into darkness
Major power outage started by fire
The San Francisco Fire Department reported that it responded to a fire at a PG&E substation at 8th Street and Mission Street around 3:15 p.m. local time on Dec. 20.
The Chronicle reported that the outages began on the west side of the city but then spread "block by block." The newspaper reported that the fire was extinguished by 6 p.m. and that the company is investigating the cause.
"The damage from the fire in our substation was significant and extensive, and the repairs and safe restoration will be complex," PG&E said in its Dec. 21 update.
This isn't the first time this particular substation has been at the center of a major outage. San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorseysaid on social mediathat it was involved in another outage in 2003, when it plunged the city into darkness just before Christmas that year.
Outage causes Waymo shutdown
the san francisco blackout has caused the waymos to give uppic.twitter.com/nfgM7dmQ9z
— Devin Clark (@devin_clark)December 21, 2025
Video on social media showedWaymo self-driving vehiclesappearing to stop in intersections, causing traffic jams throughout the city. SFGate reported that the vehicles appeared "baffled by the lack of traffic lights."
Suzanne Philion, aWaymospokesperson, told the online outlet that rides had beentemporarily suspended in the wake of the outage. Philion said in a statement to USA TODAY that the service remains suspended as of around 11:45 a.m. PT and that "our teams are working diligently and in close coordination with city officials, and we are hopeful to bring our services back online soon."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:San Francsico struck with major power outage, thousands still in dark