As more than 30 wildfires continue to burn throughout California, Governor Gavin Newsom has warned residents that power outages affecting millions are "imminent."
Newsom's warning came as he declared a statewide emergency to ensure firefighters would have access to resources to help battle the blazes.
"We are deploying every resource available to keep communities safe as California battles fires across the state during these extreme conditions...California and its federal and local partners are working in lockstep to meet the challenge and remain vigilant in the face of continued dangerous weather conditions."
Steve Berberich, the CEO of the California Independent Service Operator, says there's already a major strain on the electrical system and rolling blackouts may happen if the state of emergency is boosted to a Stage 3 level.
He says the system is expected to be short about 2,700 megawatts, which would leave almost 2 million people without electricity.