Vegetation growth from Southern California’s rainy winter could increase wildfire risk this year. So, extra prep will be needed to keep the great outdoors from turning into a tinderbox.
KNX News’ Nataly Tavidian went to Southern California Edison’s emergency operations center to find out what they’re doing to reduce fire risk. Raymond Fugere, the director of wildfire safety at SCE, said there are some things – like adding thousands of miles of coated electrical wiring in high-risk areas – that could be done to reduce wildfire risks.
“We're replacing and installing cover conductors, we're upgrading transformers as well,” he said.
The goal is to add 8,600 miles of the coated electrical wiring by 2028, Fugere said. Southern California Edison is working to reduce its chances of emergency power shut-offs during fires.
The fire scientist at SCE said there was a lot of vegetation in 2023, but the number of acres that burned statewide was below average.
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