Some of the 11 wildfires that have all but crippled southern California, one of the most populous regions in the United States, hit the power grid, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without lights and air conditioning.

"We are working around the clock," San Diego Gas and Electric spokeswoman Samantha McDonald said of the region worst affected by the power outages. "We are working just as quickly as we can."

Power was restored to more than 60,000 customers early Tuesday more than a day after it was cut, but 29,000 homes remained without power as local government officials appealed for residents to save energy.

Downed lines, burned power poles and fire-damaged equipment was blamed for the outages in the burn areas.

Wildfires in San Diego County were also blamed for knocking out a major electricity transmission line, the Southwest Power Link, a 500-kilovolt line that brings electricity from Arizona to the San Diego area.

Authorities said rolling blackouts were avoided Monday largely because of reduced usage following their emergency appeals to customers, but also because evacuations of homes and business reduced demand for power.

Executives of another major power provider, Southern California Edison, said about 40,000 of its customers were without power late Monday because of the fires.

In addition, 4,500 homes and businesses in San Bernardino County, where fires are raging about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of Los Angeles had their electricity turned off as a fire-prevention measure.

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