NV Energy outlines wildfire-prevention measures, PSOM public-notification gaps raised

NV Energy representatives told the Douglas County Board of Commissioners on June 26 that the utility is expanding wildfire-prevention and detection work in Douglas County, including selective undergrounding, pole replacement or wrapping, increased vegetation management, expanded camera-based detection and changes to distribution circuit settings during “fire season” to reduce ignition risk.

The presentation, led by Tim Hill, senior emergency management administrator, and Zaina Randall, Nevada Energy vice president of electric delivery, reviewed the utility’s Natural Disaster Protection Plan required by Senate Bill 329 (2019) and described how the company decides to preemptively de-energize lines during elevated wildfire risk. “When we see that the risk is too high to deliver energy safely, we'll turn the power off in that area until those conditions improve,” Randall said.

The discussion matters because preemptive outages can reduce wildfire ignitions tied to overhead equipment, but they also increase outage frequency and duration for customers. Commissioners and residents pressed NV Energy for clearer advance notice and better outreach to people who depend on electricity for life-supporting medical equipment.

NV Energy described three broad lines of work: prevention (hardening lines and selective undergrounding), detection (networked wildfire cameras with AI monitoring plus meteorologists and wildfire officers), and protection (fire-season relay settings, the Public Safety Outage Management or PSOM program, and emergency de-energization near active fires).

On hardening, NV Energy said it has completed several line rebuilds in Douglas County in 2024 — a 3.5-mile rebuild near Genoa, a 4-mile rebuild near Kingsbury and three miles of copper-wire…