SAN FRANCISCO — A fire in underground electrical equipment beneath California Street triggered four vault eruptions in San Francisco’s Financial District Thursday morning, forcing evacuations, a multi-block shelter-in-place order and power shutdowns during the morning commute.
The San Francisco Fire Department responded at about 6:04 a.m. Oct. 1 to the 100–200 blocks of California Street near Front Street after smoke was reported coming from several underground vaults. Fire officials later said four vaults experienced eruptions, with the effects contained underground.
By late morning, the immediate emergency had ended. The city lifted the shelter-in-place order and all road closures were cleared by about 11 a.m. No injuries were reported.
Where were the Financial District explosions?
The incident centered on California Street near Front Street, in the eastern Financial District several blocks uphill from the Ferry Building.
As crews worked, the shelter-in-place area expanded to the 100, 200 and 300 blocks of both California and Front streets. Firefighters cleared people from the street while SFFD, San Francisco police and PG&E operated under a unified command.
The Department of Emergency Management lifted the order covering California Street between Sansome and Davis streets shortly after 10 a.m. SFFD said all remaining road closures and shelter orders were lifted around 11 a.m.
Are California and Front streets open now?
Yes. The fire department said roads reopened by late morning. People traveling through the Financial District may still encounter utility crews and residual traffic delays while PG&E evaluates damaged equipment and makes repairs.
For real-time conditions, readers can check SF News Today’s live page and transit dashboard before heading downtown.
What caused the underground vault eruptions?
The final cause has not been announced. Fire officials said the evidence pointed toward an electrical malfunction, and said there was no indication that the incident was intentional.
SFFD said the underground vaults contain transformers and other electrical components. According to fire department spokesperson Jonathan Baxter, pressure built inside the vaults during the fire and caused four manhole covers to erupt.
By late morning, the affected vaults had been de-energized and PG&E had taken over the electrical investigation and repair work.
How many customers lost power?
The outage in the immediate area affected fewer than 100 PG&E customers, according to outage information cited in local reporting. Some service was restored during the morning.
By late morning, fewer than 50 customers near California and Front streets were still shown without power, with restoration estimated for later Thursday. Restoration estimates can change as crews inspect underground equipment.
What is an underground electrical vault?
In this incident, the vaults were cement enclosures below the street containing electrical distribution equipment, including transformers. They are accessed from the street through manholes.
The eruptions do not mean that four separate buildings exploded. Fire officials described pressure from the underground fire forcing the covers above the vaults upward while the incident itself remained contained below street level.
There was also a Ferry Building outage Wednesday. Are the incidents connected?
A separate outage hit the Ferry Building and surrounding waterfront Wednesday morning, one day before Thursday’s vault fire. That outage began at about 6:42 a.m. Sept. 30 and affected roughly 455 PG&E customers, including traffic signals and businesses around the Ferry Building. Much of the service was restored by about 10 a.m.
There is no evidence at this point that the two incidents are connected. PG&E was still investigating the cause of Wednesday’s outage, and officials have not publicly linked it to Thursday’s fire. Their proximity and timing, however, make the utility’s findings on both incidents worth watching.
What should downtown workers and visitors know?
The shelter-in-place order is over and the streets are open, so this is no longer an active avoid-the-area emergency. The remaining practical issue is utility work and possible localized power disruption around California and Front streets.
If PG&E or city officials identify a cause, change the restoration estimate or announce additional street impacts, SF News Today will update this page.