Copper theft leads to power outage, school closure in Northern California

The theft of copper wiring from a school’s electrical system forced the indefinite cancellation of classes at a Vallejo school, according to district officials.

Solano Widenmann Leadership Academy experienced a power outage Saturday morning during a basketball competition, according to district spokesperson Celina Baguiao. Copper wiring had been stolen from the electrical system and the theft was reported to the Vallejo Police Department.

Classes were canceled until further notice; repairs are expected to take about a week, according to a district statement. If the school needs to be closed for even longer, the district will place students elsewhere to try to minimize disruption.

California

700 streetlights in L.A. out due to copper thefts

Thieves posing as maintenance workers have taken 370,000 feet of wire. The city has spent $1 million on repairs.

Dec. 5, 2007

Updates on relocations and repairs will be shared on ParentSquare, officials said.

The problem of copper wire theft has surged across California. Stolen copper can be resold as scrap metal. Last year, the Los Angeles City Council set aside at least $600,000 toward funding a task force that made several dozen arrests and recovered more than 2,000 pounds of copper wire.

Street lights and Metro rail lines have been shut down due to copper thieves. Thieves were blamed for stealing about seven miles of copper wire — about $11,000 worth — from the rebuilt 6th Street Bridge in 2023, unplugging the bridge known as the “Ribbon of Light.”