Wildfire Prevention Rules Toughen For State Utilities

Sacramento, CA — As some of the largest wildfires in California’s history continue to leave their devastating marks across communities down south utility companies are getting new orders to do more about maintaining power lines.

Today the state’s Public Utilities Commission unanimously voted to toughen its rules that already require power companies to keep trees and brush away from power lines in higher fire risk areas. Under the new mandates utilities will also have to increase their use of proactive patrols in order to make timely identification of and troubleshoot potential fire risks.

The action, which officials call a “major rewrite” of existing fire prevention requirements for utilities that demonstrates how dramatically climate change is raising wildfire risks in much of the state, comes as fire investigations looking into current major fire incidents are considering witness accounts that link some of the blazes to sparks seen generating from wind-whipped power lines.