A wildfire raging uncontrollably across southern Oregon has knocked out three electrical lines so critical to the stability of grids in the western U.S. that California has warned of rotating blackouts and Nevada has faced a power emergency.
The Bootleg fire had burned through 143,607 acres of southern Oregon and still zero percent of it was contained as of Sunday, forcing evacuations and shutting sections of a national forest, according to the U.S. Fire Service.
The fast-moving fire crippled a key transmission system known as the California Oregon Intertie that the Golden State has depended on for years for electricity imports. Making matters worse, the takedown of the intertie has had a knock-on effect on another key import hub that brings in electricity from the Pacific Northwest, California’s grid operator said in a media briefing Saturday.