Thousands lost power near Chinese Camp after explosion
An explosion in Tuolumne County caused thousands in the Chinese Camp area to lose power Friday evening, according to officials.
The Tuloumne County Sheriff's Office said there was an explosion due to a transformer at Engie, a neighboring facility to Pacific Ultrapower.
The Tuolumne County Fire Department initially said there was a reported lithium-ion battery explosion at Pacific Ultrapower in Chinese Camp.
Crews said there were localized evacuations, which have since been lifted. No injuries were reported and crews said all employees were accounted for.
Pacific Gas and Electric said about 34,000 customers in the area were without power. A vast majority of the customers who lost power were restored before 7 p.m.
PG&E added that the outage was due to the explosion and that there was no major damage to their equipment.