San Francisco, United States - December 21, 2025 A video shared on X by user Citizenj17, who describes himself as a Catholic man living in San Francisco, shows a striking nighttime scene at the Phillip Burton Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in the city’s Civic Center area. The footage reveals most of the massive building completely dark, with no lights visible in the majority of its windows or across the exterior. In contrast, the ground-floor entrance, lobby, and several upper-floor areas remain brightly lit, apparently powered by emergency backup generators. As the camera slowly moves across the scene, wet streets suggest recent rainfall while cars with headlights on continue driving through the area without interruption. The caption accompanying the post reads, “San Francisco power outrage. The Feds have their own power.” The message underscores the contrast between the illuminated federal facility and the surrounding blackout. The video captures part of a major PG&E outage that struck San Francisco between December 20 and 21, 2025. The disruption was caused by a large fire at a substation near 8th and Mission streets. At the height of the outage, around 130,000 customers—roughly one-third of the city’s PG&E users—lost electricity. The blackout led to traffic problems, including stalled Waymo robotaxis, along with business closures and transit disruptions. Electricity was restored to most affected customers by late December 21, with full service returning shortly afterward.