Power outage affects Broadway Burlingame retail district and surrounding neighborhoods

By Carlos E. Castañeda

A power outage in Burlingame was affecting a major downtown shopping district and surrounding neighborhoods Wednesday, authorities said.

Pacific Gas and Electric indicated on an outage map that power was out to about 930 customers in the area. The outage affected the busy Broadway Burlingame retail district, as well as the Burlingame Gate, Burlingame Terrace, and Burlingame Gardens neighborhoods. 

Burlingame police said Broadway was closed between Chula Vista and Carolan avenues in the area of California Avenue and the Broadway Caltrain station.

There have been a series of outages in downtown Burlingame over the last several days, according to business owners. Multiple portable generators have been placed around the downtown area.

Earlier Wednesday, the Central County Fire Department said its crews were called out to the area to check on a possible gas leak.

A PG&E spokesperson said the outages were caused when a third-party source leaked a substance into electric vaults in the area. 

“We are proactively deenergizing some customers in the area for safety,” said spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian in an email. “Hazmat crew are on-site and will work to clear the vaults.”

Sarkissian did not identify the substance or the third party involved.

The utility said it was working with the City of Burlingame on road closures and detours in the area during the work. 

PG&E indicated the estimated time of power restoration was 6 p.m., but while most of the outages in the area were restored, power was still out in the area around the Broadway and California Drive intersection Thursday morning. The estimated restoration time was listed at 1 p.m. Thursday on the PG&E outage map.