Gov. Newsom declares heat wave state of emergency [Video]

LOS ANGELES — California’s governor declared a state of emergency Wednesday to increase power production and he urged residents to reduce electricity use as a heat wave spread over the West and officials warned there could possible outages if conditions worsen.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s declaration followed a “Flex Alert” by the California Independent System Operator for conservation that was extended into Thursday as excessive-heat warnings expanded to all of Southern California and up into the Central Valley, where temperatures soared to triple digits. The heat was expected to spread into Northern California and blanket the state into next week, possibly breaking records in some places.

Temperatures that are expected to be 10 to 20 degrees above normal pushed up energy demand, primarily from air conditioning use, and tightened available power supplies. More alerts were likely …