Felton Fire Protection District
PG&E Accelerates Vegetation Work in Santa Cruz County
SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif.— In response to the recent and dramatically increasing wildfire threat in our state, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is accelerating its vegetation management work in Santa Cruz County to further reduce the risk of wildfire and keep our customers, their families and our communities safe.
According to CAL FIRE and the National Interagency Fire Center, in 2018, as of late August, more than 5,500 wildfires have already burned over 1.4 million acres.
The unprecedented, destructive nature of the wildfire risk that California faces this year demands additional steps to further mitigate wildfire threats and keep our customers safe. As a result, we are augmenting our Community Wildfire Safety Program (CWSP) to accelerate our vegetation and safety work and reduce the risk of vegetation coming into contact with power lines.
This wildfire safety work involves creating even greater clearances between trees and power lines, including overhanging branches and limbs, in areas the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has designated as at extreme risk of wildfire.
PG&E is enhancing its routine vegetation management work to meet new state vegetation and fire safety standards that require minimum clearances of 4 feet year-found in high-fire threat areas. Meeting the new standards requires creating clearances of 12 feet or more at a time of trim between power lines and trees to ensure compliance year-round.
Our accelerated wildfire vegetation management work addresses overhanging branches or limbs, which have the potential to come into contact with power lines, by ensuring conductor-to-sky 12-foot clearance.
We are also continuing to partner with customers in extreme fire-threat areas to create fire defense zones by reducing vegetation below and near power lines that could act as fuel in a wildfire, as an added layer of protection and to enhance defensible space.
This vegetation work is expected to take place between now and the end of the 2018 wildfire season. To help accelerate the work, we have set up a base camp at 370 Kings Valley Road in Scotts Valley to localize equipment and crews. PG&E employees and contract tree crews are supporting this important fire-reduction effort. Customers can call 877.295.4949 for more information or email [email protected]
Learn more by viewing PG&E’s Visual Aid: