PG&E Announces Enhanced Wildfire Prevention & Safety Efforts Including Expanded Inspections; Additional Support for Camp Fire...
December 10 2018 - 7:18PM
Business Wire
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today announced that
it will be implementing a series of additional precautionary
measures intended to further decrease wildfire threats in
communities that are at higher risk of wildfires, as well as
additional support for its customers and their families impacted by
the Camp Fire in Butte County. The actions that PG&E announced
include:
- Implementing a series of additional
safety measures, including expanded inspections and other safety
precautions intended to further reduce wildfire threats throughout
its service area;
- Appointing an officer-level PG&E
leader with the responsibility and accountability to oversee the
longer-term rebuilding efforts in the fire-impacted area in Butte
County.
“The families impacted by Camp Fire are our customers, our
neighbors, and our friends, and our hearts go out to those who have
lost so much. We are committed to supporting them through the
recovery and rebuilding process and helping protect all of the
customers we serve from the ever-increasing threat of wildfires,”
said Geisha Williams, PG&E Corporation CEO and President.
Additional Rebuilding Steps: Support for Those Affected by
the Camp Fire
PG&E has appointed Aaron Johnson, currently vice president,
Electric Operations, as the company’s rebuilding officer to lead
local community restoration efforts. The rebuilding officer will be
responsible for:
- Coordinating with state and local
officials to determine how to best modernize and rebuild the energy
infrastructure across the impacted area;
- Partnering with the local community to
provide additional resources such as housing and support
services;
- Working with local leaders to identify
and provide assistance to local philanthropic groups; and
- Being accountable to ensure customer
questions and concerns are being effectively addressed.
“Aaron has the expertise and experience to lead our
on-the-ground response efforts as we continue our efforts to help
our customers and their communities recover and start to rebuild,”
Williams said.
Additional Safety and Operational Enhancements
PG&E will be expanding and enhancing its system-wide
Community Wildfire Safety Program (CWSP), which was implemented
following the 2017 wildfires as an additional set of precautionary
measures intended to further reduce wildfire threats. These new
safety and operational actions and enhancements are designed to
enhance current safety measures, as well as further inspect and
harden the electric system.
“As Californians, we are all faced with the devastating
realities of extreme weather and the growing wildfire threat. In
recent years, we’ve made significant changes and additions to our
business to combat these weather events, but the climate is
changing faster. All of us at PG&E are determined to enact
additional safety measures and initiatives that will help further
reduce the risk of wildfires and keep customers and communities
safe,” Williams said. “We are acting decisively now to address
these real and growing threats, and we are committed to working
together with our regulators, state leaders and customers to
consider what additional wildfire safety efforts we can all take to
make our communities safer.”
Among the safety actions PG&E is taking to address the
growing wildfire threat include:
- Detailed and
Enhanced Inspections of Electric Infrastructure:
Conducting detailed safety inspections of more than 5,500 miles of
transmission lines (consisting of approximately 50,000 transmission
poles and towers in high fire-threat areas), in addition to routine
inspections and maintenance. PG&E has already inspected
approximately 350 miles of transmission lines in the past several
weeks. This includes ground and climbing inspections, as well as
aerial imagery captured by drones and in some cases, helicopter, to
further complement and enhance visual inspections. If any issues
are identified as a potential risk to public safety, PG&E will
take action to address them right away. PG&E also plans to
begin similar inspections of its distribution lines in high
fire-threat areas in early 2019.
- Enhanced
Vegetation Management: As shared in early November
and a part of the company’s 2020 General Rate Case,
addressing vegetation that poses a higher potential for wildfire
risk, such as overhanging branches and limbs directly above and
around power lines, and trees that are at an increased risk of
falling into lines as well as dead and dying trees.
- More Real-Time
Monitoring and Intelligence: As shared in early
November and a part of the company’s 2020 General Rate Case,
expanding PG&E’s weather station network to enhance weather
forecasting and modeling. By 2022, PG&E will add approximately
1,300 new weather stations, a density of one station roughly every
20 miles in the high fire-risk areas. In addition, PG&E plans
to install nearly 600 new, high definition cameras in high
fire-threat areas by 2022, increasing coverage across high
fire-risk areas to more than 90 percent.
More information on the Community Wildfire Safety Program is
available at www.pge.com/wildfiresafety.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E
Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas
and electric energy companies in the United States. Based in San
Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers
some of the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in
Northern and Central California. For more information, visit
www.pge.com/ and pge.com/news.
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