So imagine you're a Californian. You are going about your life and day is normal. And you

start noticing that the weather has changed. It's gotten windier, drier, what we call a

red flag warning in California, where we know that the conditions are really ripe for

wildfire. And then you start hearing maybe through the news, maybe through social media,

that Pacific Ascent Electric Company, which is known locally as PG&E, the state's largest

utility is going to start actually turning off the power on purpose in order to prevent their

equipment from sparking wildfires. They want to create an emergency situation so that we don't

end up in a bigger emergency. So you are basically being told to prepare to lose your power to

prevent an emergency. Hundreds of them, the customers, are without power across California, waking

up to a widespread blackout as utility companies try to lower the risk of deadly fires.

So what do you do? You start thinking about what happens if the power goes out for an extended

a period of time. We're talking days on it. So maybe you decide to go to Target or Walmart or

wherever you kind of go to your big box store. And you're probably going to stand the line for a

while with a lot of other people who are buying things like ice and batteries, maybe even generators.

You're trying to think through how do you feed your kids, keep yourself safe, maybe get to work

because maybe you still have to go to work in this whole situation. So then the power gets cut.

And now you're sitting in the dark. And you probably took the time to charge your cell phone ahead

of time, maybe you have some backup power, but you're really worried about whether or not you can

communicate with people, tell them you're all right. You're also worried that there could be a fire

because the whole point of this is that these are really scary conditions that could lead to a wildfire.

And so especially if you live in a more rural community, you're probably trying to keep an eye on

your phone and make sure that there's no say emergency evacuation orders happening, but also

...