Chelan PUD’s most important responsibility is protecting the safety of the communities we serve. While we remain dedicated to reliability, the growing threat of catastrophic wildfire in Chelan County is real. That’s why we developed a plan to prevent our electrical equipment from causing a fire during extreme weather conditions defined by high winds and dry fuel loads. It’s called a Fire Safety Outage, and it’s a measure of last resort when public safety is threatened.
What is a Fire Safety Outage?
A fire safety outage is a proactive power outage designed to prevent wildfire ignitions from utility infrastructure. We worked closely with local fire districts, emergency responders and local organizations to review this plan, ensure a coordinated response and to address any adverse impacts.
The decision to use a fire safety outage is one we take very seriously. We recognize the devastation that wildfires can have on a community, and we recognize the impact on our customers when power is out. Our first line of defense is to increase tree-trimming, inspect more frequently, fire-hardening our lines, and other preventative actions. A fire safety outage is a rarely used measure of last resort.