Southern California Edison hardens power grid ahead of wildfire season

The emergency operations center at Southern California Edison's Irwindale complex is buzzing with activity as employees prepare to respond to a potentially busy wildfire season this summer.

Part of that response includes funding a quick reaction force for local fire departments.

"A quick reaction force is a series of helicopters that can fly and do air drops of water and fire retardant. The real benefit of these helicopters that we are funding for our fire agencies - they can do day and nighttime firefighting," said Ray Fugere, Southern California Edison's director of wildfire safety.

The idea is to stop a catastrophic wildfire, like the 2018 Woolsey Fire that charred more than 96,000 acres and claimed three lives.

A 2020 report concluded the fire was started by electrical equipment operated by Southern California Edison.

But the power company doesn't want to just help fight fires, it also wants to be proactive in trying to prevent them.

"Our number one way we are reducing the risk of wildfire is through grid hardening. To date, we've installed over 5,700 circuit miles of covered conductor, or electrically coated wire," said Fugere.

Electrical wires are coated in a triple layer plastic to prevent fires from igniting off them. Edison is also replacing its power poles with fire-resistant ones or covering wood poles with fire-resistance mesh. Crossarms are also made of non-combustible material. According to Edison, the measure has helped reduced the risk of wildfire by 85-88%.

Another safety measure are Public Safety Power Shutoffs, which are used during especially dry and hot Santa Ana wind conditions.

"It goes completely against our DNA to turn the power off, and we only implement the PSPS protocol when absolutely necessary to protect the customers and the communities that we served from the threat of wildfire," said Tom Brady, the principal manager of business resiliency at Southern California Edison.

It's the option of last resort, however, hardening the power grid has cut the need for Public Safety Power Shutoffs by more than half.

"In areas where we've fully deployed this type of wiring, we've seen a 72% reduction at least of unplanned outages, meaning our customers are not just seeing a wildfire benefit but they are also seeing reliability benefits," Fugere said.