WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (KGO) — More than 16,000 people in the Bay Area were without power on Thursday.

PG&E says this was part of their power shutoffs for public safety.

This is a planned strategy by the utility to prevent wildfires when there is a high risk of fire.

By around 10 a.m. Thursday, power had been restored to 91% of customers in the Bay Area.

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Some neighbors in Walnut Creek say the outage lasted more than 24 hours, impacting home working, food storage and children’s entertainment.

“I just got back 15 minutes ago, I went to a cafe today to go to work and as soon as I got there I got the message that the power is back so I thought okay I’m going back home,” Chad Buccine, a Walnut Creek resident, said.

Buccine and his family first lost power around 7 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Using a flashlight, his wife showed ABC7 News where their makeshift refrigerator was kept outside at night.

In this case, it’s a pair of ice-filled coolers.

“I was setting up candles all over the house last night and here I am. I hope I don’t burn my house down like I’m trying to light my house during this power outage,” he said.

All kidding aside, he says this is the fifth time they’ve been without power since they moved in eight months ago.

“I just feel like I’m a pawn in their game with the state, for example,” Buccine said. “I don’t feel any safer because they’ve shut off my power for the last 24 hours.”

PG&E says this public safety outage has affected more than 16,000 customers in the Bay Area.

The closures are a last resort to prevent forest fires.

“It was something we felt was necessary due to the high winds, the gusts, the dry conditions and the many elements that played a role in this decision, but we are happy to see things starting to improve,” he said. PG.&E spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian said.

Part of what is taking so long to restore power are safety inspections conducted by crews patrolling every mile of line that had a potential impact.

“We need to get out there and patrol these lines because if there’s a tree branch or damage to a line and we turn the power back on, it could cause the same problem that we’re trying to avoid in the first place,” Sarkissian said. .

PG&E says Wednesday’s wind event caused some damage, but their crews are still working the lines to determine what the extent of the damage actually was.

They expect full power to be restored to the Bay Area later Thursday.