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Board's POU committee frames focus areas for WMP review; utilities and public weigh in
Summary
The POU committee described existing focus areas (risk identification/preemptive de-energization, device settings/protective equipment, situational awareness) and proposed future topics including inspections, asset management, grid hardening and community outreach; public commenters from SMUD and others voiced support for continued collaboration.
The publicly owned-utility (POU) committee of the Wildfire Safety Advisory Board reported on June 3 that it has met monthly in 2026 to develop focus-area guidance intended to help POUs and co-ops mature their wildfire mitigation plans.
Committee members said the focus areas are intended as a "maturity ladder" and a resource, not a replacement for full statutory WMP requirements. The committee's current workstreams include risk identification and preemptive de-energization (PSPS), protective equipment and device settings (EPSS/fast-tripper type functions), and situational awareness (weather/fuels forecasting and grid monitoring). Staff plans written summaries of protective equipment and situational-awareness focus areas for board review in September.
Potential future topics flagged by staff and POUs include inspections (including drone-enabled inspections and QA/QC cycles), asset management and condition-based replacement, grid design and hardening (from expulsion-fuse replacements and lightning arresters up to covered conductor and undergrounding), community outreach and emergency preparedness, modeling and metrics for continuous improvement, and vegetation-management guidance being coordinated with Energy Safety.
Board members emphasized that focusing attention on a handful of topics does not mean other plan elements are neglected; rather, the approach is intended to raise a baseline maturity across a wide range of plans and to help smaller utilities identify low-cost, high-impact steps first. Several board members urged staff to invite more POUs into the discussion and to show demonstrable results from prior board recommendations as the committee selects new focus areas.
Public comment included a request for a short recap after a brief audio gap (Susie Berlin) and a statement of support from Josh Stoops of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, who said SMUD supports the board's approach to developing focus areas and looks forward to continued collaboration.
Why it matters: The focus-area work aims to standardize expectations, share best practice resources with smaller POUs, and improve the maturity of WMP submittals ahead of statutorily required reviews.
What happens next: Staff will continue early collaborative exchanges with POUs, complete two focus-area summaries for the September meeting, and coordinate outreach to expand participation across POUs and co-ops.
