Wildfire Today

News and opinion about wildland fire

Wildfire Today

Tag: power line

Specially treated wire mesh could protect power poles from wildfire

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags 4 Comments on Specially treated wire mesh could protect power poles from wildfire
Fire Resistant Mesh
Fire Resistant Mesh. Genics photo.

Originally published at 5:49 p.m. MDT March 4, 2021

Wire mesh treated with an intumescent graphite coating may be able to prevent a wooden power pole from being consumed in a wildfire. It could also be effective on a railroad bridge or under the eaves of a house.

When subjected to heat, an intumescent rapidly expands and can fill in the gaps in the wire mesh to form a barrier between the fire and the wood. Before the fire, the mesh allows air flow, preventing a buildup of moisture that could lead to wood damage.

I first learned about the product when seeing a report that NVEnergy installed it last month on 170 power poles as a pilot program in Nevada, looking at it as a way to protect equipment in the event of a wildland fire. The company installed it at either a 6 or 20-foot height, depending on the surrounding vegetation.

In September, 2019 we wrote about a fire resistant paint that was applied by the Idaho National Laboratory on 3,000 power poles. They prioritized poles receiving the paint based on service area, fire risk, and vegetation density. Every pole painted in the latex-based fire retardant paint survived the 2019 Sheep Fire. Even poles that had not been repainted since their initial coat in 2012 and 2013 survived.

Updated at 11:47 a.m. MDT March 5, 2021

A big thank you to Robert Tissell who pointed out in a comment on this article that the TV show “This Old House” showed vents being installed in a home in Paradise, California that use the same process. Vulcan Vents says they are  “manufactured out of high grade aluminum honeycomb and coated with an intumescent coating made by Firefree Coatings. The intumescent coating is designed to quickly swell up and close off when exposed to high heat. The expanded material also acts as an insulator to heat, fire and embers.”

Vulcan Vent
PBS, This Old House.

Three power companies in California to spend $15 billion to mitigate wildfire potential

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , , 1 Comment on Three power companies in California to spend $15 billion to mitigate wildfire potential

SDG&E, PG&E, and SCE release their plans for 2021 and 2022

powerline trees
File photo of powerline routed through trees.

Three of the largest power companies in California expect to spend a total of $15 billion over a two-year period, 2021 through 2022, to prevent wildfire ignitions. In state-required updates to their annual wildfire mitigation plans filed with California’s Public Utilities Commission, San Diego Gas and Electric states they will spend $1.3 billion, Pacific Gas and Electric $10.2 billion, and Southern California Edison $3.5 billion.

The power equipment of the three utilities have been responsible for numerous large, disastrous wildfires.

PG&E, for example, expects to make the following improvements to their systems in 2021:

  • Implement a new Wildfire Risk Model that can comprehensively assess and prioritize its safety work, including system hardening and enhanced vegetation management. This builds upon the previous model and uses advanced software and machine learning for predicting fire ignitions and improving fire spread simulations for determining the potential impacts of a wildfire.
  • Install 300 additional weather stations to more precisely forecast the weather that could lead to public safety power shutoff events, to complete the long-term goal of 1,300 total stations.
  • Install more than 260 devices that limit the size of outages;
  • Install and deploy microgrids that use generators to keep the electricity on;
  • Deploy more crews for inspection and restoration efforts;
  • Convert 23 line-miles of overhead powerlines to underground in Butte County;
  • “Harden” 180 miles of high risk lines;
  • Conduct “enhanced vegetation management” on 1,800 miles of high risk lines.

The goal of PG&E’s Meteorology and Fire Science team is to advance operational meteorology and operational decision making to reduce wildfire risk. It is comprised of 15 scientists, most with advanced degrees in scientific fields with diverse backgrounds in operational meteorology, utility meteorology, outage prediction, fire science, data science, cloud computing, atmospheric modeling, application development and data systems development. The team is comprised of alumni from the San Jose State University Fire Weather Research Laboratory (https://www.fireweather.org/), former wildland firefighters, former National Weather Service forecasters, and Veterans of the Marine Corps and United States Air Force.

Sacramento television station examines connection between wildfires, PG&E, and politics

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 3 Comments on Sacramento television station examines connection between wildfires, PG&E, and politics

Fire - Power - Money

A television station in Sacramento, California, ABC10, took an extended look at the deaths caused by wildfires started by Pacific Gas and Electric’s powerlines and how the company has avoided serious legal repercussions after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of 84 people.

The video below is a combination of the first four episodes of their series examining the connection between wildfires, PG&E, and its influence on state politics.

Zogg Fire investigators seize PG&E equipment

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , 4 Comments on Zogg Fire investigators seize PG&E equipment

Four people died in the fire southwest of Redding, California

Map of the Zogg Fire
Map of the Zogg Fire October 9, 2020.

Investigators from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection looking for the cause of the Zogg Fire seized Pacific Gas and Electric equipment, the utility said Friday in a notification to the state Public Utilities Commission.

The Zogg Fire started about 9 miles southwest of Redding, California during hot, dry, and windy conditions on September 27, 2020 and ran south for 16 miles until firefighters were able to stop it at Highway 36 about 9 miles east of Platina.

Four people were killed in the fire and 103 residences and 101 other structures were destroyed. The estimated costs of suppressing the fire through October 9 are $29 million.

In PG&E’s filing to the PUC, the company said their equipment reported alarms and other activity in the area of Zogg Mine Road and Jenny bird Lane between approximately 2:40 p.m. and 3:06 p.m. on September 27, when the line recloser de-energized that portion of the circuit. The filing says wildfire detection cameras and satellite data showed heat or signs of smoke at that location between approximately 2:43 p.m. and 2:46 p.m.

BakersfieldNow has information about the four fatalities.

The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office identified one of the victims as Alaina Michelle Rowe, 45, who was found dead along a road on Sept. 28. The sheriff’s department said another victim was a minor but did not report the identity. KRCR-TV in Redding reported that Rowe and her eight-year-old daughter Feyla died as they tried to escape the fire.

The two other victims, also found a day after the fire started, are Karin King, 79, who was found on the road where the fire started, and Kenneth Vossen, 52, who suffered serious burns that day and later died in a hospital.

Neither PG&E or CAL FIRE have disclosed exactly what equipment the investigators seized.

CAL FIRE has not released their findings about the cause of the Zogg Fire.

After their equipment was blamed for starting the Camp Fire, in June of this year PG&E pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for the 84 people that were killed when the fire burned through Paradise, California November 8, 2018. The fire also burned 154,000 acres and destroyed more than 18,000 structures. As part of the investigation for that fire, CAL FIRE personnel seized electrical equipment on or near a 100-year old PG&E transmission tower near the point of origin.

Previously the power company has reached settlements with victims from wildfires in 2015, 2017 and 2018, totaling about $25.5 billion, NBC news reported.

Electric co-op in Washington reaches settlement to pay $1.1 million for suppression of fire that killed three firefighters

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , , ,

Earlier, power companies agreed to pay the seriously injured lone survivor $5 million

Twisp River Fire map
Photo from the report on the Twisp River Fire.

The Okanogan County Electric Co-op has agreed to a $1.1 million settlement for the suppression costs of the deadly 2015 Twisp River Fire.

U.S. Attorney William D. Hyslop announced that the settlement had been reached with Okanogan County Electric Cooperative, Inc. (“OCEC”) and its insurer, requiring the payment of $1.1 million to the United States in fire suppression costs resulting from the Twisp River Fire that began on August 19, 2015 in north-central Washington.

The $1.1 million recovers a large portion of the U.S. Forest Service’s costs incurred in suppressing the fire. It was part of a larger settlement of claims that were brought separately by other plaintiffs, including U.S. Forest Service firefighter Daniel Lyon and the State of Washington, who sought to recover damages for personal injury and property damage caused by the fire.

The Twisp River Fire ultimately burned approximately 11,200 acres, claimed the lives of three USFS firefighters, and severely injured Mr. Lyon. He suffered third degree burns over nearly 70 percent of his body, but three other firefighters in the same engine died in the vehicle, according to the corner’s report, from smoke inhalation and thermal injuries. They were Richard Wheeler, 31; Andrew Zajac, 26; and Tom Zbyszewski, 20. All four were employees of the USFS working on the Okanogan/Wenatchee National Forest out of Twisp, Washington.

The US Attorney claimed the Twisp River Fire ignited due to contact between a tree branch and OCEC’s electrical distribution line. He further claimed OCEC failed to properly maintain a vegetation management plan designed to detect and prevent the tree branch from contacting the distribution line. OCEC denied these allegations.

In January Mr. Lyon reached a settlement with two utility companies, OCEC and Douglas County PUD, just before an appeal of his $100 million civil suit was to be heard before the state Supreme Court. In that settlement the companies agreed to pay $5 million.

From the Wenatchee World, when the $5 million settlement was announced in January:

“I am very grateful that my case calls attention to the plight of injured first responders,” said Lyon, who was burned over most of his body and has undergone more than a dozen surgeries and 100 medical procedures. “I am also grateful my case has reached a settlement so that I can now move on with my life knowing I will have the resources I need for the future.”

Last July, his attorneys, in an appeals brief, argued the Professional Rescue Doctrine that largely bars such claims violates the state constitution, which gives people equal protection under the law and offers the right to seek compensation for damages.

Lyon’s attorneys note that courts in some other states, where the doctrine once held sway, have opted to throw it out.

An attorney for one of the two defendants, in an earlier interview, says the wounds Lyon suffered — however grievous — resulted from risks inherent to the dangerous job of firefighting.

“The law does not allow them (professional first responders) to sue — and there are good policy reasons behind that,” said A. Grant Lingg, who represents the Okanogan County Electric Cooperative. “You don’t want the people who start a fire to be afraid to call the fire department for fear that that an injured first responder will sue them.”

The video below is about the January settlement.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Tom. Typos or errors, report them HERE.