A fuel cell system for receiving input fuel, input water and input oxidant comprising a humidifying assembly for combining the input fuel with input water to produce humidified fuel, a fuel cell having an anode for receiving the humidified fuel and a cathode for receiving the input oxidant, and a power load controller for controlling a power load on the fuel cell system based on a power output set point and changes in the detected load. If the load drops from a high load to a low load and ability to ramp to a high target power output is thereafter restored, the controller is adapted to perform a rapid load recovery procedure by controlling the power output of the fuel cell system to increase from a power output corresponding to the low load to the high target power output corresponding to the high load at a first predetermined rate if all of one or more predetermined conditions are satisfied, and is also adapted to perform a standard load recovery procedure by controlling the power output to increase at a second predetermined rate which is lower than the first predetermined rate, if at least one predetermined condition is not satisfied.