California electricity providers instituted rolling blackouts Friday night — the first since 2001 — as an intense and prolonged heat wave settled over much of the Western U.S. Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have experienced brief power outages through the evening, after the body that manages most of the state's electric utilities declared a Stage 3 emergency to help reduce stress on the larger grid. Electricity demand surged through the day as temperatures topped the triple digits in many parts of the state and people cranked up fans and air-conditioning units to try to stay cool. The emergency order was rescinded before midnight and power was fully restored to all affected households, the California Independent System Operator said in a tweet. Extreme heat is a silent killer, responsible for more deaths than any other natural disaster. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that heat kills more than 600 people in the U.S. every year. However, a
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