California Schools Install Generators After Wildfire Outages
The Eaton and Palisades fires in January 2025 were the most devastating of a wildfire complex that claimed approximately 482 lives and caused over 3,000 injuries through direct and indirect causes statewide.
The January 2025 Southern California Wildfires stand as the costliest wildfire event in U.S. history (over $60 billion in insured losses alone), and the most destructive blazes ever in Los Angeles.
The most recent data, as of November 2025, breaks down damage costs as follows:
Total Economic Impact[1]: $112 Billion (surpassing Hurricane Katrina's $103 Billion unadjusted estimate)
Insured Losses: $68 Billion
Uninsured Losses & Infrastructure: $38 Billion
Suppression & Response Costs: $6 Billion
Communities like Altadena and Palisades Park were virtually razed to the ground, but the January 2025 wildfires also caused devastating damage in Malibu and as far away from DTLA as Sierra Madre.
Coupled with the widespread destruction caused by the Santa Ana wind-driven wildfires was the loss of power for over 350,000 Southern California Edison customers, an extended power outage estimated to have affected over 1 million people.
Some of these blackouts were caused by actual damage from the fires, but the vast majority of customers were left without power due to Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) deemed necessary by SCE to prevent electrical equipment from sparking additional wildfires.
Despite the January 2025 CA wildfires raging for weeks, grid instability continued for many SCE customers long after the blazes were contained.
Business and residential customers were impacted by the blackouts, and so were other community institutions.
Like schools.
Blackouts in Malibu Schools During & After the California Wildfires
In the aftermath of the January 2025 Palisades Fire, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) and concerned parents wanted to get and keep Malibu area schools up and running as soon as possible.
Even once the January 2025 California Wildfires were largely contained, Southern California Edison continued to institute Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS), primarily to prevent sparks from power lines igniting new fires under prevailing Santa Ana high wind conditions.
Unlike rolling blackouts, which utilities schedule for fixed periods of 1-3 hours when electricity demand exceeds supply, a PSPS is performed intentionally for public safety reasons. The grid often remains offline for the duration of the event that triggered it, such as dangerously high Santa Ana winds and the potential for sparks igniting new wildfires.
Fossil Fuel Generator Failure In Malibu Schools
In response to the PSPS, the SMMUSD rented massive industrial diesel generators to power Malibu High School and Malibu Middle School at considerable expense to taxpayers and parents.
The goal was to keep interior lights, HVAC (for smoke filtration), and security systems running so students didn't miss any more class time than they already had during and after the wildfires were contained in the area.
The very first morning the rented diesel generator was required, it "failed to turn over."
According to Radio Malibu, the fossil fuel generator failure kept doors at Malibu Middle and High Schools closed on January 24th, 2025, after 6 days of lost classes due to intentional SCE PSPS power cuts in the same month.
That's not including days lost due to damage or danger from the wildfires themselves.
After two years of "begging for generators," Radio Malibu reports that angry parents of students from the school drove as far as 45 miles around the closures on the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Monica to "roast the school board" for failing to provide a reliable backup power solution.
Solar + Storage Microgrid Generators for Schools
Malibu was far from the only school district in SoCal that suffered chaos and days lost due to the January 2025 California Wildfires and the Public Safety Power Shutoffs that continued even after the fires were contained.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the Los Angeles school district (LAUSD) committed to "set aside $2.2 billion to repair or rebuild three fire-damaged schools and to make all campuses more 'natural disaster resilient'” in the wake of the Eaton and Palisades wildfires.
The LAUSD also planned to "draw down a huge chunk of $9 billion in school construction and modernization bonds that voters approved in November [2024]."
Given that severe wildfire outbreaks in California appear to be a way of life at this point, making schools more resilient is rightly a priority for many politicians and parents.
Installing backup generators in schools goes a long way towards achieving those goals, especially when intentional power outages continue after the immediate dangers from fires are contained.
However, relying on outdated fossil fuel generators is not only bad for the immediate environment (i.e., inside and outside of class) but also the climate crisis that most scientists believe is exacerbating wildfire frequency and severity in the first place.
The failure of the expensive diesel generator rented in Malibu to even start on Day 1 is a clear indicator that students, parents, and teachers deserve a more reliable, environmentally-friendly source of backup power.
Thankfully, there's a real world-example of how to provide clean, reliable backup power for schools during blackouts and extended outages.
Santa Barbara Unified School District Solar + Storage Microgrid Initiative
Following the Thomas Fire and Montecito Mudslides in late 2017/early 2018, much of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties were left without power for weeks in the wake of the disaster.
The Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD) realized that utility grid infrastructure was too fragile to support their students in a time of escalating natural disasters.
In late 2019, the SBUSD partnered with the Clean Coalition to start a "massive solar microgrid initiative."
Earlier this year, KCBX reported that "SBUSD is now one of the first in the nation to install solar-powered microgrids on its campuses. Starting this month, solar energy will supply more than 70% of the district’s power."
Solar + storage microgrids are designed to operate independently from the main power grid, particularly during power outages and emergencies.
When the main grid is operational, microgrids can deliver a significant share of the electricity required by schools with clean, renewable solar power.
Desmond Ho, Operations and Sustainability Coordinator for SBUSD, told KCBX that "The microgrids are battery storage with a smart controller that will basically allow critical loads, such as our refrigeration for food and freezers for food, as well as our telecommunication equipment, to stay online for as long as possible."
SBUSD forecasts savings of "$14 million in energy costs over the next 28 years."
The technology for community solar and whole-home backup power already exists.
It just takes the will (and the funding) to adopt sustainable solutions for energy independence and reliable access to power.
Resources Cited
Aon Impact Forecasting. "Global Catastrophe Recap: First Half of 2025." Aon. https://www.aon.com/home/solutions/reinsurance/impact-forecasting
Clean Coalition. “Santa Barbara Unified School District - SBUSD Clean Energy,” July 23, 2024. https://clean-coalition.org/community-microgrids/goleta-load-pocket/santa-barbara-unified-school-district/.
Wernik, Amanda. “Santa Barbara Schools Launch Solar Microgrids to Cut Energy Costs, Boost Resilience.” KCBX . KCBX, March 7, 2025. https://www.kcbx.org/environment-and-energy/2025-03-07/santa-barbara-schools-launch-solar-microgrids-to-cut-energy-costs-boost-resilience.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). "Eaton Fire: Incident Update." January 23, 2025. https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2025/1/7/eaton-fire.
Los Angeles County Coordinated Joint Information Center. "Media Update: Eaton and Palisades Fires." January 22, 2025. https://lacounty.gov/emergency/wildfire-recovery.
NASA Scientific Visualization Studio. "Spread of the Palisades and Eaton Fires." NASA, July 11, 2025. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov.
Radio Malibu. "District Rushes Generators To Malibu; Ignition Fails At Malibu High." KBUU 99.1 FM, January 24, 2025. https://www.radiomalibu.net/district-rushes-generators-to-malibu-but-ignition-fails-at-malibu-high.