A big wildfire and an SDG&E power outage: What happened?

Rob Nikolewski, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Oct 19, 2026

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SAN DIEGO — An outage Friday on a San Diego Gas & Electric line that occurred moments before the start of the Norte fire that mobilized hundreds of firefighters and damaged homes in Orange County has raised questions about whether any of the utility’s equipment may have ignited the fire.

An SDG&E spokesperson on Monday cautioned against linking the circuit to the fire.

“Smoke and ash from fires can cause electric outages and there is no currently no basis to conclude that there is a connection between our facilities and the ignition,” Allison Torres of SDG&E said in an email to the Union-Tribune.

But an attorney who specializes in wildfire cases sees things differently.

“Based on what we’re seeing, it’s very consistent with the probability that their equipment was related to the ignition of the fire,” Newport Beach lawyer Richard Bridgford told the Orange County Register. “The stars are aligned with what we’ve seen in prior utility-caused fires.”

The blaze, which was 75% contained by Monday afternoon, is under investigation by the Orange County Fire Authority.

“We don’t get any shared information from the fire investigators until the (cause of the) fire is determined, so I have nothing to add or even share with that regard,” said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Sean Doran.

Asked if there is any connection between the start of the fire and SDG&E equipment, Doran told the Union-Tribune, “That’s going to be completely in the fire investigator’s hands. I have no information about that.”

SDG&E confirmed an outage occurred on Circuit 197 in San Clemente on Friday at 11:31 a.m.

According to the OCFA’s account on X, a vegetation fire was reported at 11:33 a.m. in the area of Portico Del Norte in San Clemente, with firefighters responding on the ground and in the air.

Whipped by Santa Ana winds, the Norte fire grew to as large as 570 acres and moved quickly across rugged topography. Evacuation orders were put in place by Friday afternoon, affecting thousands of residents and homeowners in San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano.

By Sunday, residents began returning to their homes, but the OCFA said at least seven structures were damaged or destroyed. Aerial photos from the fire authority showed blackened hills close to homes.

Crews on Monday morning worked on extinguishing hot spots and bolstering containment lines.

Nearly 500 firefighters have been deployed over the course of the operation, with two reporting injuries.

“We will continue to work with emergency personnel, who have done an extraordinary job protecting the San Clemente community,” Torres of SDG&E said, adding that customers who have the ability to receive power have had service restored.

The last time SDG&E equipment led to a fire ignition was in 2007 when high winds and dry conditions led to the Witch Creek, Guejito and Rice wildfires that destroyed more than 1,300 homes, killed two people, injured 40 firefighters and forced more than 10,000 to seek shelter at Qualcomm Stadium. One of the fires was caused by a tree limb that fell onto an SDG&E power line.

Since that time, SDG&E has spent more than $6 billion from ratepayers in its service territory to reduce the risk of wildfires.

The efforts include building a Wildfire and Climate Resilience Center at the company’s headquarters in Kearny Mesa, placing more than 335 miles of power lines underground since 2020 and replacing wooden power poles with fire-resistant steel poles.

SDG&E helps support a weather network with UC San Diego that includes 130 cameras that stream views of high-fire risk areas. The system includes 225 stations that measure wind speed, temperature and humidity every 10 minutes.