It seems like last summer, all that was talked about was the fires that were spread all across the state. This summer, in a sudden turn of events, the talk has moved to a side-effect of several fires near the Phoenix metropolitan area: blackouts!

Rising humidity increases blackout risk

Punished by heat and humidity, metro Phoenix pushed its weakened power grid to the limit Monday, and utility officials fear continued muggy weather will push the system to the point of collapse.

The high temperature Monday was 112 degrees, with the dew point at 64 degrees. Demand for electricity from APS and Salt River Project peaked at 11,967 megawatts Monday.

So these last few days, we all have been asked to conserve power when possible.Our office is completely dark except for a few desktop lamps and the AC has been set to a higher temperature — something that never happens around this office.