Fire at Oakland substation causes widespread power outage
Feb 2023Published 28 Sept 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
- Where
- Pacific Gas and Electric substation, 50th Avenue and Coliseum Way, Oakland, California
- Operator
- Pacific Gas and Electric
- What
- transformer fire shortly before 1 p.m. on 19 February 2023
- Cause
- Not reported
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What happened
A fire broke out at a PG&E utility substation in Oakland, California, on 19 February 2023, at the utility yard at 50th Avenue and Coliseum Way, where a transformer was reported to have burst into flames. The cause was not reported. The outage began shortly before 1 p.m. and affected about 54,000 households from the Bay coast to the Oakland hills, and it shut Oakland International Airport for a time.
About 45,000 of those households were reported back online by 9 p.m.; at least 8,500 were said to face waits until the predawn hours of 20 February or later. Fire crews reported the fire out by mid-afternoon. Two drawbridges on Fruitvale Avenue and High Street were frozen upright for hours. No hazardous-materials concern or evacuations were reported.
Contributing factors
The cause of the transformer fire was not reported. Authorities did not say whether the substation had been targeted.
Lessons learned
- Substation fires can cut power to tens of thousands of customers and to an airport within minutes, so restoration estimates should be treated as provisional.
- Utilities and fire services should share a single status on whether the fire is out, and on any hazardous-materials or evacuation need.
- Outage plans should cover transport links that depend on power, such as drawbridges, as well as households.
More lessons on outages, backup supply and restoration, fire suppression and firefighting, from every incident on the register.
Not yet known
- Cause of the transformer fire
- Transformer model and age
- Cost of the damage and outage
This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.
Source
Published 2026-09-28. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
