As people turn on their air conditioners, the state has predicted record levels of energy use, said Elliott Meinger, president of the California Independent System Operators, which operates the state’s electric grid. The state has additional energy capacity right now “but blackouts, rolling, rolling outages are a possibility,” Mainzer said, calling the additional conservation “absolutely necessary.” The CAISO site Tuesday morning showed California could be more than 5,000 megawatts short of power supply at peak demand, forecast for 5:30 p.m. PT. The danger of wildfires was enormous as the scorching heat and low humidity turned into brush. Four deaths were reported over the Labor Day weekend as about 4,400 firefighters battled 14 large blazes across the state, with 45 new blazes on Sunday alone, said Anale Burlew, deputy chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Firefighters coordinate efforts on a burning property while battling the Fairview Fire near Hemet, California on Monday. (Ethan Swope/The Associated Press) In Southern California, two people were killed and one injured in the Fairview fire that started Monday near the town of Hemet, the Riverside County Fire Department said. About 80 kilometers southeast of Los Angeles, the fire quickly spread to at least 2,400 acres, prompting evacuations, and was only 5 percent contained. Many residential structures were burned. The dead were not immediately identified. Authorities said both were found in the same area, but it was not known if they were from the same household. They were apparently trying to run away when they were overpowered.
Calls for voluntary conservation
California’s energy grid runs on a mix of mostly solar and natural gas during the day, along with some power imports from other states. But solar energy begins to decline in the late afternoon and evening, which is the hottest time of day in some parts of the state. And some of the old natural gas plants that California relies on for backup power aren’t as reliable in hot weather. At CAISO’s request Monday, four temporary emergency power generators deployed by the Department of Water Resources in Roseville and Yuba City were activated for the first time since they were installed last year, providing up to 120 megawatts, enough electricity for 120,000 homes. People get out of the heat at a cooling center at the Lafayette Recreation Center in Los Angeles on Friday. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images) CAISO has also issued a Flex Alert for voluntary retention between 4 p.m. until 10 p.m. PT Tuesday, making seven alerts in as many days. Consumers were asked to keep air conditioners at 25.5C or higher during the season and to avoid using large appliances such as ovens and dishwashers. Efforts have worked to keep the lights on “but now we’ve entered the most intense phase of this heat wave” that could last into the week, and two to three times the level of conservation will be needed by people and businesses, Mainzer said. CAISO also issued an Energy 2 Emergency Warning from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. PT Monday. The second of three stages of emergency alert means taking emergency energy-saving measures “such as using backup generators, buying more power from other states and using so-called demand response programs,” according to a CAISO website. Stage 3 would be rolling blackouts.
Highs of up to 46.1C forecast indoors
Several hundred thousand Californians lost power due to continuous blackouts in August 2020 amid a heat wave, but the state avoided a similar scenario last summer. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Friday that could allow the state’s last nuclear power plant to stay open after it’s scheduled shutdown in 2025 to ensure more energy. The National Weather Service predicted high temperatures between 100 and 115 degrees (37.7 C and 46.1 C) inland California, with the 80s to 90s (above 26.6 C and below 37.2 C) more near the coast. The night won’t bring much relief, with many places seeing lows in the 80s or even 90s (above 26.6C and below 37.2C). Rick Fitzpatrick holds a dog after being evacuated from the Fairview fire near Hemet on Monday. (Ethan Swope/The Associated Press) Ironically, the unsettled weather also brought the chance of thunderstorms to Southern California and the Sierra Nevada, with a few isolated areas of rain, but nothing widespread. The storms could also produce lightning, forecasters said, which could spark wildfires. South of the Oregon state line, the Mill Fire was 55 percent contained Tuesday morning after killing two people, injuring others and destroying at least 88 homes and other buildings since it broke out last week, CalFire said. The bodies of the two women, ages 66 and 73, were found in the town of Weed on Friday, the Siskyou County Sheriff’s Office said Monday. Details were not immediately released. A few kilometers away, the mountain fire grew to nearly 29 square kilometers square miles and was only 20 percent contained, with winds threatening to renew its eastward spread across steep terrain, fire officials said. Scientists say climate change has made the West hotter and drier over the past three decades and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.
