Navajo County keeps stage 1 fire restrictions as APS outlines public safety power‑shutoff plan

Katrina, a representative of the Navajo County Public Health Services District, told the Board of Supervisors at a meeting in April that short‑term drought and seasonal forecasts have left the county in severe to extreme drought and that the county remains in Stage 1 fire restrictions.

"We remain in stage 1 fire restrictions with no outlook of that going away anytime soon," Katrina said, and she described what Stage 1 requires: no debris burning, suspension of all burn permits and a prohibition on littering of smoking materials.

The nut graf: county officials urged residents and visitors to take precautions as the region enters a hotter, drier season and as Arizona Public Service (APS) rolls out new tools to reduce the risk that power infrastructure will start or spread wildfires.

Katrina said recent winter storms did not materially improve drought measures and that the county’s wildfire coordination team continues weekly meetings. She urged the public to avoid backyard fires if wind is present and to be mindful of vehicle undercarriage debris, which can spark fires. Katrina thanked partners and vendors for turnout at a March wildfire preparedness expo and promoted a Firewise Block Party set for July 12 at Blue Ridge (Porter Mountain) Elementary School.

Janet Dean, public affairs manager for Arizona Public Service, and Ryan Weisner, an APS account manager, detailed the utility’s multi‑year wildfire mitigation program. Dean said APS now operates an 18‑person fire mitigation team that uses five broad strategies: vegetation management, grid hardening, asset inspection, monitoring and awareness, and operational mitigations.

APS examples cited included clearing a 10‑foot radius around poles with equipment, replacing or wrapping vulnerable wooden poles, changing fuse designs, annual patrols of 265 identified high‑risk lines using trucks, helicopters and drones, and adding weather stations and AI‑enabled cameras to detect smoke early.

"Public safety power shutoffs are a tool of last resort," Dean said. She described last year’s pilot PSPS activity on 13 lines and said APS expanded the PSPS‑eligible lines to 65 this year after further risk modeling. For the first time, some of those lines run inside Navajo County; Dean said customers in the Show Low area and on lines between Show Low and Taylor could be affected under extreme conditions.

Dean said APS expects an average PSPS outage to last about 20 hours — covering the wind event, night hours when crews cannot safely assess lines, and the time after dawn it takes crews to inspect and restore service — but cautioned that damage found on lines could extend outages. She said PSPS events would be "predictable" several days in advance and that APS aims to provide early notice to counties and customers: company meteorologists would alert county partners about five days before a likely event and direct customer outreach would begin about four days out.

Dean said APS is working to make PSPS impacts as limited and “surgical” as possible by switching affected customers to alternate feeds where feasible and focusing shutoffs on the smallest practical circuit segment.

County supervisors and the board chair thanked APS and county staff for outreach and asked that the utility continue to coordinate with emergency management and county facilities. Supervisor Seaman praised telecommunicators and first responders in related discussion; Supervisor Seymour and others noted recent local brush fires and urged continued public education.

Katrina and Dean said outreach will continue; APS will contact customers on high‑risk circuits and the county will use its alerting tools for local notifications. County staff said they will share APS preparedness information with local partners and emergency planners.

Ending: County officials urged residents to sign up for county emergency alerts, update utility account contact information and follow guidance on backyard burning and vehicle maintenance as wildfire season approaches.