San Diego Gas & Electric Line Outage Near Norte Fire Ignition Point Cut Power to 496 Customers

San Diego Gas & Electric equipment lost power near the origin of the Norte fire in San Clemente two minutes before the blaze broke out, an outage that affected 496 customers. The utility confirmed the outage on Saturday, according to EIN Presswire, but gave no details such as the time, the circuit and the exact location.

The Circuit 197 Outage and Norte Fire Timeline

An online post on the utility's website, captured in a screen grab, shows that SDG&E distribution line Circuit 197 sustained an outage at 11:31 a.m. close to the ignition site of the wind-whipped fire. The blaze was first reported at 11:33 a.m. in the area of Portico Del Norte in San Clemente, the Orange County Fire Authority posted on X on Friday, October 16. The fire damaged or destroyed at least six homes and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents.

"Based on what we're seeing, it's very consistent with the probability that their equipment was related to the ignition of the fire," said Newport Beach lawyer Richard Bridgford, who specializes in wildfire cases and supplied the screen shot from SDG&E's website. "The stars are aligned with what we've seen in prior utility-caused fires." The official cause of the fire is under investigation.

Bridgford is one of the lead attorneys suing Southern California Edison, whose equipment triggered the 2025 Eaton fire that devastated Altadena and claimed 19 lives. He also successfully sued SCE for the 2022 Coastal fire that destroyed 20 homes in south Orange County. The last time San Diego Gas & Electric sparked a major wildfire was in 2007, when its equipment was linked to the Witch Creek fire, the Guejito fire and the Rice fire, which merged and burned nearly 200,000 acres, killing two people and destroying more than 1,300 homes in San Diego County.

SDG&E's Wildfire Detection and Rate Case Filings

San Diego Gas & Electric, founded in 1880 and headquartered in San Diego, is a public utility with between 5,001 and 10,000 employees, according to akta.pro company records. In June 2026 the utility launched Edge Alert Sentinel, an edge AI wildfire and extreme-weather detection system with Qualcomm Technologies and UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, with first deployment on Mt. Palomar and broader rollout targeted for 2027. The same records show SDG&E submitted a $3.8 billion revenue requirement request to the California Public Utilities Commission for the 2028-2031 General Rate Case period, alongside an 8.6% rate increase request filed in June 2026.

Heat, Demand and Outages Across San Diego

San Diego Gas & Electric notified about 35,000 customers that power could be shut off starting Friday amid an extreme heat wave and wildfire risk, Fox5sandiego reported on October 1, 2026. On September 9, the utility saw record demand of 5,209 megawatts, its highest since 2014, as heat and humidity kept air conditioners running, The Cool Down reported on September 20, 2026. Multiple power outages affected over 4,700 customers in San Diego on Sunday night due to equipment damage or unknown issues, Fox5sandiego reported on August 24, 2026.

What Comes Next for the Norte Fire Investigation

The official cause of the Norte fire remains under investigation, and SDG&E has not given the time, circuit or exact location of the outage beyond the online post.