Arizona Power Outage Preparedness
The Arizona edition of 90 Days Without Power by Robert Smythe adds Extreme-heat edition to the national household plan. Use official Arizona emergency information together with Ready.gov, CDC, EPA, and USDA baselines for water, food, heat and cold, and carbon monoxide.
Who to listen to in Arizona
Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs (DEMA) is the state emergency-management agency named in this edition. The public information network listed in the book is Arizona Emergency Information Network (AzEIN). For local help lines, As of late 2026, 211 Arizona’s online directory and automated phone system remain available at 211arizona.org and by dialing 2-1-1. Live-operator hours have changed; check the site for the current way to get help.
Open the 2-1-1 page listed for Arizona
Climate and risk notes
Most Arizonans live in low desert cities (Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma) with long, extremely hot summers. Northern and mountain communities (Flagstaff, the White Mountains, the Mogollon Rim) have real winters and can see snow and ice. The National Weather Service’s typical Arizona monsoon season runs about June 15 through September 30, with thunderstorms, dust storms (haboobs), and flash flooding.
Extreme heat is the everyday high-consequence risk when air conditioning stops. Ready.gov notes that water needs can double in very hot weather. Know a cooling center or cooler building you can reach.
Risks this edition emphasizes
- Extreme heat is the everyday, high-consequence risk for low-desert households — especially when air conditioning stops.
- Monsoon thunderstorms down power lines, start localized outages, and cause flash floods in washes.
- Wildfire is a year-round concern in a dry climate (AzEIN notes this explicitly) and can damage lines or force evacuations.
- High country: winter storms, ice, and travel shutdowns.
- Many homes rely on refrigerated medicine, and municipal water systems and wells both depend on electric pumps.
Documented outages and official reviews cited in the book
- The FERC/NERC report on the September 8, 2011 Arizona–Southern California outages documents a cascading event that began with problems on the APS system near Yuma and spread across Arizona, Southern California, and Baja California. Cite that official report rather than a remembered customer count.
- Monsoon-season storm outages are the outages most Arizona households actually live through: hours to a couple of days, often during the hottest weeks of the year.
- Maricopa County Department of Public Health reported 645 heat-associated deaths in 2023. That figure is about heat in a normal powered summer, not about a blackout — and it is the reason this edition treats cooling as a first-line survival plan.
The grid, in plain language
Arizona is part of the Western Interconnection (WECC). It is not in ERCOT. The largest utilities include Arizona Public Service (APS), Salt River Project (SRP) in the Phoenix area, and Tucson Electric Power (TEP).
Official utility and warning links used in the edition
Water, heat, and cold in Arizona
Municipal water in Phoenix, Tucson, and most cities is treated and pumped electrically. A long outage can reduce pressure or stop well pumps. Store water before a heat wave or monsoon burst. If officials issue a boil-water notice, follow it; chemical contamination notices mean do not boil or bleach.
This is the edition’s center of gravity. Close blinds on the sunny side, pick the lowest shadiest room, drink water before you feel thirsty, and know a public cooling location. ADHS publishes extreme-heat guidance at the QR-linked page in this chapter.
Evaporative (‘swamp’) coolers need electricity and relatively dry air; they are not a substitute for a plan if the power is out. A car with fuel and working A/C is a short-term cool-down option, never a sleeping space with the generator or the engine running in an enclosed place.
Seasonal reminders
- Summer / monsoon
- Shoulder seasons
- Winter (low desert)
- Winter (high country)
Household priorities in this edition
- Write a cooling plan before June: where you will go if the house is unsafe, how you will get there, and how you will hear about official cooling centers (county public health and AzEIN).
- Store more drinking water than the several-day Ready.gov minimum. Heat raises fluid needs.
- Know your utility’s outage map and medical-equipment program (APS, SRP, and TEP each describe outage alerts and, in some cases, medical preparedness programs).
- Never run a generator in a garage, even with the door open, to keep a freezer or a swamp cooler running.
- If you rent, map which windows you can shade without violating the lease, and where your breaker panel and water shutoff are.
Checklist extras for Arizona
- Locate AzEIN (ein.az.gov) and DEMA (dema.az.gov) on a bookmark and on paper
- Sign up for your utility’s outage alerts (APS, SRP, or TEP)
- Find this summer’s cooling-center information via county public health or 211 Arizona
- Store extra drinking water above the several-day baseline
- Put a thermometer in the fridge and freezer before monsoon season
- Write indoor-temperature triggers for leaving the house
- Test CO and smoke alarms before you ever start a generator
- If someone uses refrigerated medicine, write the storage range from the label
- Know how you will check on one older neighbor during a heat-plus-outage day
- Keep a paper list: 911, Poison Help 1-800-222-1222, 988, Disaster Distress 1-800-985-5990
Self-defense statute note (not legal advice)
The Arizona edition includes this short, sourced note so readers know where to read the current law. It is not legal advice and it is not permission to use force. Statutes change; read the official text.
Arizona Revised Statutes 13-405 describes justification for deadly physical force and states that a person has no duty to retreat before threatening or using deadly physical force if the person is in a place the person has a right to be and is not engaged in an unlawful act (see the current text at azleg.gov, A.R.S. 13-405). A.R.S. 13-407 addresses the defense of premises; deadly force in that setting is tied back to the limits in 13-405 and 13-406. Read the current statutes and local ordinances before you rely on any of this. This book is not legal advice. Sources: https://www.azleg.gov/ars/13/00405.htm and https://www.azleg.gov/ars/13/00407.htm
Related national guides: how to prepare for a 90-day blackout · water storage · home security · staying cool · staying warm