Rolling blackouts were a familiar experience for Californians just a few years ago, as Democrats’ reckless climate policies weakened the state’s electric grid. Now they are back, as the state has failed to keep its forest fires under control.

Rural Californians are now being forced to go without power for days at a time as utility companies engage in intentional power outages to avoid sparking fires during fire season. There have been more “public safety power shutoffs” so far in 2025 than in any year going back to 2020, and that is only through the end of July. Lake Hughes, an unincorporated community in Los Angeles County, went through four straight days with no power after one such shutoff in mid-August, along with multiple other outages later in the month.