When Underground Power Lines are the Answer
Are underground power lines the solution for preventing forest fires? According to Councilman Bob Whalen of Laguna Beach, CA, the answer is a definitive “yes.”
Mr. Whalen’s sentiment is understandable. California is still reeling from the massive wildfires that swept through large swaths of the northern part of the state in 2017. And the state is still working through the recovery as well developing mitigation tactics to prevent or reduce the severity of such disasters going forward – tactics such as improved vegetation management and undergrounding utilities. I get the vegetation management, but is burying wires a realistic mitigation tactic?
The Rationale Behind Underground Power Wires
Many experts agree that overhead lines serve to make a bad situation worse when it comes to fires. In the past 10 years, downed poles have caused dozens of forest fires in Laguna alone. And even when poles and overhead lines are not the cause of the fire, when trees burn and fall onto overhead lines, the resulting sparks hasten can easily the spread of the fire.
This article explains the Laguna Beach wire-burying plan. California’s utilities have been slow to act, so several municipalities such as Laguna are taking matters into their own hands. The city plans to allocate several million dollars over the next two years for the undergrounding initiative. According to the plan, underground power lines will replace poles and overhead wires along the city’s evacuation routes, which has the added benefit of eliminating the possibility that downed poles will block evacuation roadways. The cost estimate for this undergrounding is about $1,000 per foot.
In the final analysis, the high cost of undergrounding all utilities in the U.S. means this will not happen anytime soon. In the meantime, if you work at an electric utility in a fire-prone location, and underground power lines are few and far between, it is important to incorporate downed poles and overhead wire-caused fire scenarios into your emergency plans, training, exercises and drills.
