On Tuesday, RCRC Regulatory Affairs Advocate Staci Heaton testified in support of Senate Bill 901 by Senator Bill Dodd (D-Napa), which seeks to place new requirements on wildfire mitigation plans and measures to include policies and procedures by which the preparing entity may assess when it may be necessary to de-energize its electrical lines.
Power lines during high wind conditions can be a significant risk for wildfires, particularly in light of the dry conditions in many parts of the State. California has seen the impacts of this in numerous high severity wildfires over the past decade, including the 2015 Butte Fire which killed two persons and destroyed 475 homes in Calaveras and Amador Counties. It is also possible that power lines contributed to the highly destructive 2017 wildfires in Northern and Southern California, from which residents are still struggling to recover.
SB 901 could help prevent such fires by requiring electrical corporations to include in their wildfire mitigation plans, policies and procedures to assess when it may be necessary to de-energize its electrical lines, including relevant meteorological conditions, maps of relevant fire hazard severity zones and high fire risk areas, observations made by individuals and cameras, as applicable, of vegetation conditions near electrical lines, and communication protocols for notifying customers who may be impacted by the de-energizing of electrical lines.
The text of SB 901 can be accessed here. RCRC’s support letter can be accessed here.