SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — Avista customers in the Inland Northwest could see more days without power this wildfire season.
On Tuesday, Avista laid out new strategies for the summer season. In that plan, Avista announced they may turn off power and keep it off on hot, windy days when fire danger is exceptionally high. The plan for the "Public Safety Power Shutoffs" (PSPS), was laid out by a coalition of Avista, the Cheney Fire Department and the Idaho Department of Lands Representatives along side Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown.
After an especially destructive wildfire season in 2023, this summer in Spokane County is forecasted to be hot and dry, which means a potentially severe wildfire season. As the next wildfire season starts to roll in, families are still recovering and Avista is preparing for what they can do to stop those fires from sparking.
During "fire safety mode," Avista will not automatically attempt to re-energize lines, crews will have to manually patrol the lines to ensure nothing is around to cause a fire. To predict when fire danger is highest and when they need to switch to "fire safety mode," Avista will be using a fire weather dashboard.
Residents in the affected areas would get a PSPS warning one to two days before the weather event begins, then another one to four hours before PSPS shuts down the power. According to Avista, residents will be kept updated when power restoration work begins and a final alert will be sent when power is restored.
The Cheney Fire Chief, Tom Jenkins, says it is a sacrifice needed to keep the community safe from fires.
"I know there's going to be some customers across the VISTAs enterprise that maybe ask what does this have to do with me who lives maybe in the heart of Spokane, or in a densely populated, concrete jungle environment, we all pay for the price of not doing our part to help mitigate and manage wildland fires" said Jenkins.
Another part of Avista's plan is to strengthen their power grid, replace wooden transmission poles with steel and managing tree and brush near power lines to reduce fuel for fires.
Power companies have a history of sparking fires, including the devastating Gray fire in Medical Lake, that was allegedly caused by a faulty light pole owned by a inland power and light company.
Avista is also facing a lawsuit for the 2020 Babb Road fire that destroyed Malden and Pine City. This lawsuit claims Avista failed to clear a fallen free branch from a power line. The lawsuit is scheduled to go to court next May.
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