Community Wildfire Safety Program
Given the continued and growing threat of extreme weather and wildfire, as seen in 2017 and 2018, we are evolving and expanding our Community Wildfire Safety Program as an additional precautionary measure to further reduce wildfire risks and help keep our customers and the communities we serve safe.
Wildfire Prevention and Safety Efforts
Following the 2017 wildfires, PG&E took action with a comprehensive, system-wide Community Wildfire Safety Program that involves:
Real-Time Monitoring and Intelligence
- Coordinating prevention and response efforts by monitoring wildfire risks in real time from our Wildfire Safety Operations Center
- Expanding our network of PG&E weather stations to enhance weather forecasting and modeling
- Supporting the installation of new high-definition cameras in high fire-threat areas
New and Enhanced Safety Measures
- Further enhancing our vegetation management efforts to increase focus on vegetation that poses a higher potential for wildfire risk
- Conducting accelerated inspections of electric infrastructure in high fire-threat areas
- Disabling automatic reclosing of circuit breakers and reclosers in high fire-risk areas during wildfire season
- Proactively turning off electric power for safety as a last resort where extreme fire danger conditions are forecasted
System Hardening and Resiliency
- Installing stronger and more resilient poles and covered power lines, along with targeted undergrounding
- Upgrading and replacing electric equipment to further reduce wildfire risks
- Working with communities to develop new resilience zones
Why PG&E is Taking Action with the Community Wildfire Safety Program
Following a record wildfire season in 2017, we have seen more devastating and deadly wildfires driven by rapidly changing climate conditions.
Fire season is now extended due to prolonged periods of high temperatures, extreme dryness, tinder-dry grass, and record-high winds increasing the number of wildfires and making them more dangerous.
Our operational approach and focus must evolve with the continued and growing threat posed by extreme weather conditions. We are continuing to ramp up the work that we began prior to the start of the 2018 wildfire season.
Our wildfire safety efforts will continue to evolve and change as we learn more.
Working Together with Our Customers
We want to work together to share information and help our customers and communities prepare for and stay safe during extreme weather events.
- More information about our wildfire safety efforts, including tips to help customers prepare an emergency preparedness plan, can be found at pge.com/wildfiresafety
- Customers can also check their address to see if they are served by a PG&E electric line that may be turned off for safety during extreme weather conditions – and, if so, they can sign up for important wildfire safety alerts at pge.com/mywildfirealerts
Together, we can all take steps to prepare our homes, businesses and families to stay emergency-ready and safe during wildfire season.