Triple digit heat subsides, so why the flex alert?

OAKLAND, Calif. - Despite milder temperatures in the Bay Area, heat and fire continue to plague much of the Golden State, coastal states and the interior west. It's making some people wonder why on Monday we're still under a flex alert.

The biggest reason is because everything in this report is weeks, if not months earlier than usual.

The operators of the California power grid say that the fast-moving Bootleg Fire in Oregon tripped off transmission lines on Friday and Saturday. That cut the flow of electricity being imported from the Pacific Northwest into California by enough power to supply 3.8 million homes. 

The actual shortage was higher because intense heat caused maxed-out transmission lines, called conductors, to swell up, sag and endanger collapse of the transmission towers that hold the conductors up. 

"As those wires heat up, they can really transfer less electricity. Normally our conductors are rated for pretty high temperatures but now we're seeing, you know, historically high temperatures that we're just not expecting," said Ric O’Connell, CEO of Gridlab.org.

On top of that, really thick smoke, common in major wildfires, can cause the lines to short out. "Normally, when there is a wildfire or a lot of wildfire approaching transmission lines, the transmission lines are often shut down pre-emptively to reduce the fact that they may collapse," said Mr. O’Connell.

So, Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order to quickly secure power from other sources to the south and east, keep the grid from rolling blackouts or total collapse.

As for the fires themselves, the National Interagency Fire Center reports that, right now, 59 large wildfires have burned 863,976 acres in 12 western states. 

So far this year, Cal Fire reports as of Sunday night, it has fought 4,991 fires; way more than last year. 

"These numbers are concerning because typically what we see this time of year, there's a bit of a transition from small, initial attack fires to the larger fires that we expect towards the end of the year into the fall and into the beginning of the winter, said Cal Fire Battalion Chief Isaac Sanchez.

And, we are still some three weeks away firm the peak fire months of August through October and November when mutual aid from other states may be razor thin.

"We're already tapping into that resource, there's gonna be concerns for later in the summer and into the fall when the Santa Ana winds begin to blow and we historically have our large destructive fires," said Chief Sanchez.

The undeniable fact is: wildfires are becoming more common, coming sooner and they're definitely getting bigger.