Tens of thousands of homes were left without electricity in Berlin on Saturday after power cables were damaged by a fire police suspect was an arson attack. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze but about 45,000 households and 2,200 businesses in districts in southwest Berlin were left without power, according to grid operator Stromnetz Berlin. Spokesman Henrik Beuster told AFP that the operator was "trying to gradually restore power" but when it would be back for everyone "is still unclear". Authorities also suspected arson when a blaze hit electricity pylons in Berlin in September, causing a widespread outage. Germany has been on high alert for sabotage activities directed at its infrastructure, including from foreign actors such as Russia.

Source: The Local January 03, 2026 12:43 UTC