By Sharon Bernstein and Scott DiSavino

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) -California’s grid operator urged consumers to conserve energy for an eighth straight day on Wednesday as the state grappled with a heat wave blanketing the drought-stricken region and crews fought multiple wildfires linked to the dry conditions.

Temperatures are forecast to remain extreme in coming days before residents get some relief during the weekend, according to the National Weather Service. Record high temperatures were recorded in California’s Bay Area on Tuesday.

Evacuation orders remained in place in Riverside County east of Los Angeles and Siskiyou County in the north as crews responded to deadly wildfires.

As of Wednesday morning, just 5% of the Fairview Fire in Riverside was contained after scorching 7,000 acres (2,830 hectares), according to the Riverside County Fire Department. The fire has claimed the lives of two and injured another.

Fire crews have contained 65% of the Mill Fire in Siskiyou where nearly 4,000 acres (1,620 hectares) have burned.

California’s weeklong run of record-breaking temperatures will persist this week with highs reaching the 110s Fahrenheit (mid-40s Celsius) in interior parts of the state, according to the weather service.

On Tuesday, power prices soared to a two-year high and demand hit an all-time record as homes and businesses cranked up air conditioners to escape the heat.

The California Independent System Operator (ISO), grid operator for most of the state, canceled its warning for possible rotating outages late Tuesday with no outages needed.

While urging consumers and businesses to keep conserving, the state’s grid operator has been primarily concerned with the evening hours, when the sun sets and solar power is no longer available.

Solar provided about a third of the grid’s electricity in the middle of the day on Tuesday but nothing at night.

“Consumer conservation played a big part in protecting electric grid reliability,” the ISO said in a tweet.

The last time the ISO ordered utilities to shed power was for two days in August 2020 when outages affecting about 800,000 homes and businesses lasted anywhere from 15 minutes to about 2-1/2 hours.

California’s biggest utilities are PG&E (NYSE:) Corp’s Pacific Gas and Electric, Edison International (NYSE:)’s Southern California Edison and Sempra Energy (NYSE:)’s San Diego Gas and Electric.

The ISO said power demand hit a preliminary 52,061 megawatts (MW) on Tuesday, breaking the prior all-time high of 50,270 MW in 2006. The ISO projected usage would peak at 51,182 MW on Wednesday and 49,977 MW on Thursday.

Power prices at the Palo Verde hub in Arizona and SP-15 in Southern California rose to $1,000 and $550 per megawatt hour, respectively. That was their highest for a second consecutive day since hitting record highs of $1,311 in Palo Verde and $698 in SP-15 in August 2020 when the ISO last imposed rotating outages.