California Power Outage Preparedness
The California edition of 90 Days Without Power by Robert Smythe adds PSPS, wildfire, earthquake, and heat edition to the national household plan. Use official California emergency information together with Ready.gov, CDC, EPA, and USDA baselines for water, food, heat and cold, and carbon monoxide.
Who to listen to in California
California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) is the state emergency-management agency named in this edition. The public information network listed in the book is Listos California. For local help lines, Dial 2-1-1 or visit 211ca.org for local resources across California.
Open the 2-1-1 page listed for California
Climate and risk notes
California is many climates: a cool, wet North Coast; a hot Central Valley; a dry inland empire; mountains with snow; and a fire-prone wildland-urban interface almost everywhere foothills meet houses. Your first risk depends on the county, not the state outline.
Earthquakes, wildfire, and public-safety power shutoffs can all interrupt electricity. Have a way to hear official alerts that does not depend on home Wi-Fi.
Risks this edition emphasizes
- Public Safety Power Shutoffs during red-flag wind events.
- Wildfire itself — evacuation, smoke, and damaged infrastructure.
- Earthquakes that can break water lines, drop power, and block roads at the same time.
- Heat waves, including the August 2020 West-wide heat storm during which CAISO declared Stage 3 emergencies and ordered rotating outages on August 14–15 (see CAISO’s Final Root Cause Analysis).
- Flooding and landslides in atmospheric-river winters, especially after burns.
Documented outages and official reviews cited in the book
- August 14–15, 2020: CAISO’s published root-cause analysis describes Stage 3 emergencies and rotating outages during a widespread Western heat wave. Use that report for details rather than a remembered customer number.
- PSPS events in 2019 and after affected large parts of the PG&E territory and, at times, SCE and SDG&E territory. These are announced when possible — which means a kit you can actually live on for several days is the point, not a surprise-only plan.
- Earthquakes (Northridge 1994, Loma Prieta 1989, and many smaller events) show that power loss can arrive with damaged water pipes and closed roads. An outage kit and a drop-cover-hold-on plan belong together.
The grid, in plain language
Most of California’s wholesale electricity market is operated by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). The state sits in the Western Interconnection (WECC). Investor-owned utilities include Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), plus many municipal utilities and cooperatives. Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) are planned, announced de-energizations that utilities use to reduce wildfire ignition risk during dangerous wind and dry conditions; the California Public Utilities Commission oversees the framework.
Official utility and warning links used in the edition
Water, heat, and cold in California
An earthquake can take your water even if the lights stay on, and a PSPS can take your well pump even if the pipes are fine. Store water for both problems. After a quake, assume you should wait for official word before using tap water if lines may be broken.
Central Valley and inland southern California heat waves are medically serious. Combined with a rotating outage or a PSPS, they become the same problem Arizona describes: the house itself is the hazard.
Coastal marine air helps some neighborhoods and does nothing for Redding, Fresno, or Palm Springs. Write the plan for the climate you actually live in.
Seasonal reminders
- Fire weather / PSPS
- Summer heat
- Earthquake any day of the year
- Winter
Household priorities in this edition
- Sign up for your utility’s PSPS and outage alerts and for county emergency alerts (Ready.gov/alerts explains the federal WEA layer).
- Keep a go-bag by the door as well as a shelter-in-place kit. Fire and earthquake both require leaving fast.
- Store water for both outages and earthquake-broken pipes. Ready.gov’s earthquake pages pair with the water chapter.
- If you use medical devices, talk with your utility about medical baseline or backup programs and with your clinician about a named place to go.
- N95 or similar respirators help with wildfire smoke; they are not a substitute for evacuation orders.
Checklist extras for California
- Bookmark Cal OES, Listos California, CAISO, and your utility’s PSPS page
- Turn on ShakeAlert-capable alerts on your phone if available in your area
- Sign up for PSPS notifications from your utility
- Pack a go-bag and a 2-week home kit, not just one or the other
- Store water for broken pipes as well as for pump failures
- Know two evacuation routes from home and from work
- Secure tall furniture and water heaters
- Write a smoke plan (masks, a cleaner indoor room) that is separate from your evacuation plan
- Put 211, 911, Poison Help, and Disaster Distress on paper
- If you have a generator, place it 20+ feet outdoors — PSPS weather is often windy; watch exhaust direction
Self-defense statute note (not legal advice)
The California edition includes this short, sourced note so readers know where to read the current law. It is not legal advice and it is not permission to use force. Statutes change; read the official text.
California Penal Code 198.5 creates a rebuttable presumption that a person using force intended or likely to cause death or great bodily injury inside their residence held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily injury if the other person was not a household member and unlawfully and forcibly entered, and the resident knew or had reason to believe of that unlawful and forcible entry. California also has detailed firearm storage, carrying, and local rules that are separate from this home-protection presumption. Read the current Penal Code and your city or county rules. This book is not legal advice. Source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN§ionNum=198.5.
Related national guides: how to prepare for a 90-day blackout · water storage · home security · staying cool · staying warm