Power cuts blasted as fire risk spreads

LOS ANGELES - Hundreds of thousands of Californians were still without electricity due to preemptive blackouts on Thursday as hot, windy conditions causing wildfires spread south toward Los Angeles, with the state's governor blasting the predicament of householders as unacceptable.

Nearly 540,000 customers in the US west coast state remained in the dark on Thursday afternoon after Pacific Gas & Electric began switching off power the previous day, in a bid to prevent a repeat of last year's catastrophic infernos that killed around 90 people.

Many schools and universities have closed in northern parts of the state and people stocked up on gasoline, water, batteries and other basics, with frustration mounting.