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Chugach Electric details vegetation management, new line-safety measures to reduce wildfire risk
Summary
Chugach Electric told the Anchorage Assembly it relies chiefly on easement vegetation management but will also use more sensitive line-protection settings, temporary disabling of automatic reclosing and, in extreme conditions, public-safety power shutoffs to reduce wildfire ignitions.
Chugach Electric told the Anchorage Assembly the utility’s primary tool to reduce wildfire risk is routine vegetation management in rights of way and easements, and it plans to add more sensitive power-line safety settings and other operational steps as fire danger increases.
“The number 1 thing that Chugach Electric does to prevent wildfire is vegetation management within our easements,” said Trish Baker, government affairs manager for Chugach Electric, describing tree and brush removal along the roughly 10-foot easement on either side of poles and subsequent mulching to discourage regrowth.
The measure is part of a broader five-part program Chugach described to the assembly that includes vegetation management, disabling automatic reclosing on selected feeders, enhanced power-line safety settings (EPSS), public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) and coordination with incident command and emergency operations.
Nut graf: Officials said the…
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