As the intensity and number of wildfires continue to grow outside of the “wildfire season,” utility executives are facing immense pressure from regulators, backlash from PSPS announcements, vocal expectations from investors, and the stark reality of an aging grid.
In the article “Partner or Perish: The Burning Need for Community Partnerships for Wildfire Mitigation,” published in T&D World, CRA’s Energy expert Matthew Moore shares that by collaborating on firebreak creation and home hardening initiatives, utilities can reduce fire risk, minimize outages, and build trust.
Community partnerships for wildfire mitigation have already proven successful—there are related models to build from. Moore dives into this collaboration with three key points below:
- Collaborative fuel management and firebreaks: Locals bring knowledge of terrain, potential fire behavior, and community perspectives and priorities to align with utilities’ funding and technical expertise.
- Property hardening as shared resilience: Community-based property hardening programs facilitated by utilities, including helping residents retrofit homes with fire-resistant materials, installing ember-resistant vents, and creating defensible space.
- Lessons from energy efficiency partnerships: Utilities have decades of experience building partnerships to enhance energy efficiency, and this same model—utilizing structure, localized implementation, utility funding, and co-branding—can be replicated for wildfire mitigation strategies and include a verification and validation element.
Stakeholder and community partnerships bring greater resilience, enhance safety, and foster reliability; read Moore’s insights in the article here.
