Utilities urge conservation as extreme heat persists and the Bouquet Fire threatens structures and power lines.
Extreme October heat is straining Southern California’s power system as thousands of customers face outages and firefighters battle a wildfire in Los Angeles County.
Southern California Edison and other power providers urged customers to conserve electricity as triple-digit temperatures increase demand for air conditioning. Edison warned that extreme heat could increase the likelihood of temporary outages.
About 23,000 customers were without power in Los Angeles County at the peak of outages from Sunday into Monday morning. That number fell below 11,000 by midmorning Monday. Outages were also reported in Orange and San Bernardino counties…