The first sign of trouble came at 4:22 p.m. Thursday.
Warning of “extreme temperatures across much of California,” officials urged the state’s tens of millions of residents to use less electricity the next evening, to make sure power demand didn’t outstrip supply and cause the lights to go out.
It was the third Flex Alert of a young summer that’s felt more like August or September as heat waves shatter records and wildfires devour the landscape, symptoms of a climate in chaos. And unlike the first two calls for energy conservation, this one would nearly bring the Golden State’s electric grid to its knees all because of a wildfire in southern Oregon.
How an Oregon fire almost took down California s power grid - The San Diego Union-Tribune
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Firefighters make progress battling massive blazes in California and Oregon
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“Our hearts go out to the families of our brave wildland firefighters,” an Arizona Bureau of Land Management spokesperson said in a statement.
In California, officials asked all residents to reduce power consumption quickly after a major wildfire in southern Oregon knocked out interstate power lines, preventing up to 5,500 megawatts of electricity from flowing south into the state.
The California Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s power grid, said Saturday the Bootleg Fire took three transmission lines off-line, straining electricity supplies as temperatures in the area soared.
“The Bootleg Fire will see the potential for extreme growth today,” the National Weather Service in Medford, Oregon, tweeted Sunday.
Fires rage in several states as heatwave hits western US
Record-breaking temperatures have put pressure on the power grid
A firefighter tries to stop the Sugar Fire, part of the Beckwourth Complex Fire, from spreading to neighbouring homes in Doyle, California (Image: AP)
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