More than 200 new weather stations and 25 new
HD cameras installed to date in 2019
As part of its Community Wildfire Safety Program (CWSP), Pacific
Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced that it is expanding
its network of weather stations and high-definition cameras to
improve the company’s ability to predict and respond to extreme
wildfire danger. By the end of 2019, PG&E plans to have at
least 600 weather stations and 100 high-definition cameras in high
fire-threat areas. These new installations are one of the many
additional precautionary measures the company is implementing
following the 2017 and 2018 wildfires to further reduce wildfire
risks.
“The enhanced meteorological data we are receiving from these
weather stations is bolstering our ability to forecast high
fire-risk weather conditions with further granularity so that we
can take swift action to protect public safety,” said PG&E CWSP
Vice President Sumeet Singh. “Personnel at PG&E’s 24/7 Wildfire
Safety Operations Center will use these weather stations and
cameras to better monitor wildfire risks and coordinate prevention
and response efforts, and the data is shared publicly and with
agencies such as CAL FIRE.”
New weather stations installed in more than 35
counties
Building on the 200 weather stations it installed in 2018,
PG&E has added an additional 200 weather stations in 2019 to
capture localized, real-time data related to temperature, wind
speeds and humidity levels. Approximately 400 new weather stations
are scheduled to be installed in 2019, prioritized in areas at
elevated and extreme risk for wildfires, based on the California
Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) High Fire-Threat District
Map.
To help protect customers and communities during extreme weather
events, electric power may be shut off for public safety in an
effort to prevent a wildfire. This is called a Public Safety Power
Shutoff (PSPS). PG&E’s meteorologists will feed data from these
new stations to the company’s Wildfire Safety Operations Center
team, where it can be utilized to help inform actions such as
PSPS.
Before any PSPS, PG&E will carefully review a combination of
criteria including predictions of strong winds and very low
humidity levels; additional weather stations will assist PG&E’s
Meteorology team to better predict conditions specific to local
geographic areas. Data collected by the weather stations is
available to state and local agencies and the public through online
sources such as the National Weather Service and MesoWest.
“These new weather stations help us monitor conditions around
the clock, improving our ability to understand when and where it is
necessary to take this precautionary action in the interest of
public safety,” said Aaron Johnson, PG&E vice president of
Electric Operations.
Counties that have already received weather stations include
Alameda, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado,
Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Kern, Lake, Lassen, Madera, Marin,
Mariposa, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San
Benito, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara,
Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity,
Tulare, Tuolumne and Yuba.
HD cameras being installed throughout high fire-threat
areas
PG&E has installed 25 of the 100 high-definition cameras
planned for this year. The company has now installed 34 HD cameras
since 2018, with a goal of installing 600 new cameras by 2022 as
part of the ALERTWildfire Camera Network. The ALERTWildfire Camera
Network is a situational awareness tool built by the University of
California, San Diego, the University of Nevada, Reno and the
University of Oregon. The high-definition, pan-tilt-zoom cameras
allow firefighters, first responders and companies like PG&E to
confirm and monitor potential wildfires.
The system is used by fire managers and has been instrumental in
tracking more than 500 fires since it was first developed in 2013.
Images from the ALERTWildfire system are viewable online at
www.alertwildfire.org.
Counties that have received cameras so far include Amador, El
Dorado, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mariposa, Monterey, Napa, San
Benito, Shasta, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo and Yuba.
Community Wildfire Safety Program
In addition to improving real-time monitoring and intelligence
capabilities, other actions PG&E is taking as part of CWSP
include putting in place new and enhanced safety measures and doing
more over the long-term to strengthen the safety and resiliency of
the electric grid in an effort to further reduce future wildfire
risks. More information can be found at 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 24,000 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
www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.
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