Representatives from Salt River Project and Arizona Public Service told the House ad hoc committee they are investing in operational programs — public safety power shutoffs (PSPS), vegetation management, grid hardening and new sensing technology — to reduce the probability that utility equipment will start wildfires and to improve emergency response.

Jace Kirby of SRP described an eight‑pillar mitigation approach that includes situational awareness, operational practices, emergency response and vegetation management. SRP said it has a PSPS program targeted to specific high‑risk circuits and that decisions to de‑energize lines are strictly conditions‑driven and use multi‑day notifications when possible.

“Once those circuits are turned off, we will never be able to re‑energize them without inspecting that entire circuit again,” Kirby said, explaining SRP’s rationale for detailed pre‑event communications and staged inspections.

SRP said it is using weather monitoring, five full‑time meteorologists, Forest Service fuel information and other tools to make PSPS decisions and starts customer notifications as early as four days before a planned outage. SRP also said it has active defensible‑space and right‑of‑way programs and has developed partnerships to create consistent projects around critical transmission corridors.

Scott Bordenkircher of APS described a layered approach that includes vegetation management, hazard‑tree removal outside of rights‑of‑way, system hardening and targeted asset inspections. APS said about 20% of its lines are in the highest fire‑risk areas and that, across mitigation and grid investment categories, the company spends roughly $110 million annually related to wildfire risk reduction.

APS and SRP both described investments in camera networks and artificial‑intelligence smoke detection. APS said it started a program last year, is doubling the number of cameras this year and that the system has sometimes detected smoke before 9‑1‑1 calls. Both utilities said they deploy aircraft seasonally (air tanker bases in Marana, another planned in Wickenburg) and lease rather than own large aviation resources.

Lawmakers and county supervisors raised concerns about PSPS impacts on residents with medical equipment and private wells. Utilities said they use multi‑day warnings and work with county emergency managers to communicate, but officials acknowledged gaps remain for residents without strong digital/phone connections.

Committee members asked whether utilities should own aircraft or build more local water sources for scooper aircraft; utility witnesses said leasing aircraft shifts maintenance and insurance obligations to contractors, but they were open to exploring additional water basins or other pre‑positioned infrastructure where justified.