The company cuts down all vegetation and trees and branches within 10 feet of each utility pole on a three-year cycle to reduce fire hazards.

It is expected that wildfires caused by power equipment can be largely prevented if sparks occur in public facilities but there is no fuel to land on the sparks.

As such, APS has at least three fire mitigation specialists on staff. We also have contracts with workers who bring weed cutters, rakes and saws to trim right-of-way and utility pole bases.

This week, a team of three cleared a 10-foot radius at the base of a utility pole in the Timberline area. This week, maintenance workers moved at a pace of about 40 to 60 poles a day, helping APS inspect and clean around his more than 380 poles.

“If you look around, there’s a lot of good fuel. It’s been wet during the winter, so the grass and weeds have moved in quite a bit,” said Brian, a Flagstaff-based APS fire mitigation specialist. Kelly explained.

Amid the low roar of mowers, a hand saw was heard as one of the crew crouched down to cut down a Russian olive bush that was right on the bubble of the 10-foot line of the utility pole.

“If you have something that’s 10 feet, 12 feet, 14 feet, you might remove that as well because it goes back to the 10-foot cylinder,” Kelly said.

APS’s Polar Perimeter Defenseable Spatial Strategy (DSAP) was implemented voluntarily, but follows several recognized industry-standard best practices.

“It comes from the International Code Council and the Wildlands Urban Interface Code (WUE),” Kelly said, adding, “Wherever we call it WUE or the Wildlands Urban Interface Code, we’re going to adopt this code.” We chose .It mandates it when we own it.” If you operate electrical equipment on poles that have sparked or are known to cause sparks in the past, you will remove 10 feet of fuel in all directions from the base of those poles. . ”

Clearing the area around utility poles not only helps prevent fires caused by spark devices. Maintaining a defensible space around equipment also helps reduce damage to utility poles in the event of a wildfire, Kelly said.

“You can see a little charring on the pole when the pipeline fire went through, but it didn’t affect the pole enough to have to replace it,” Kelly said, pointing to Timberline’s utility equipment. “Of course there are some regrowth and good fuels that we will be working with today. We are seeing regrowth.”

Pole protection is a top priority for APS. When a utility pole disappears in a wildfire, there is a high chance that the lights will go out somewhere in the area. Restoring power will take longer if heavy equipment needs to be replaced.

Kelly said having a defensible perimeter around the poles has reduced the need for utility replacements after pipeline and tunnel fires.

The scars of a pipeline substation fire are a good example of how well the strategy of clearing trees and vegetation works.

Trees around the substation have been burned down and the landscape is marred by the aftermath of the fire, but the substation stands almost untouched.

“For the fire department, this was not a priority. They were focused on protecting the home and stopping the fire from spreading,” Kelly said. This was not part of their main firefighting effort. The fact that you can create a defensible space around your substation and protect it in the event of an extreme fire is very impressive. This really speaks to what homeowners can do with their property. ”

Kelly added, “Let’s take responsibility for our own defensible spaces and fire mitigation. We will create defensible spaces for people, remove fuel from around our homes, and work with local fire departments. and encourage them to explore other opportunities to create defensible spaces and fires.” We are taking mitigation measures around their home. ”

Of course, some trees and utility poles were badly damaged by wildfires last summer. Where charred trees posed a fall hazard to power lines, they had to be removed, Kelly said.

“We are measuring trees, and the trees on the right side of the road are probably marked with green. “It means there is less chance of hitting a comm. What we removed could be cut into log lengths and collected for a program called Wood for Life,” Kelly said.

Wood for Life is a tribal charcoal initiative that uses materials from the Forest Restoration Service as fuel for Indigenous communities that rely on wood to heat their homes.

“They use this biomass that we make for things like warming, ceremonies and events. Kelly said.

Harvested timber not used by Wood for Life is sent through a wood chipper and distributed as mulch for community gardens and bedding for livestock and zoo animals. Customers can fill out an application on the APS website and receive wood chips for personal use, Kelly said.

Kelly is a trained arborist and holds a master’s degree in forestry from Northern Arizona University. He works for the Coconino County Forest Service and has extensive knowledge of both the flora, fauna and wildfire characteristics of the area.

Part of his job includes evaluating trees to see if they pose a tipping hazard. For example, dangerous trees may have died from bark beetles or drought. Kelley said heavy snowfall in the APS this winter caused the soil to become oversaturated, causing trees to topple over.

“I look at the danger tree aspect and know how to size trees for their potential to impact a facility or cause a power outage,” Kelly said.

In general, APS works in cycles, with each line and site evaluated every three years for hazardous trees and fire-fighting fuels.

But Kelly said the company will check forested areas more often in some cases. An arborist, such as Kelly, can prescribe pruning and felling operations.

Kelly has been with APS for over six years, explaining that his job is relatively new.

“Ten years ago, this job didn’t really exist for any utility, but with climate, fuels and increased risk from increased fires, many utilities have realized the importance of fire mitigation programs. I think they are,” Kelly said. “our [fire] As risks changed, we had to adapt our approach statewide. Changes in moisture regimes, droughts, and extreme winter to extreme heat have resulted in large variations in fuel payloads. ”

Over the past six years, Kelly has experienced a kind of climate change.

“I was looking at the numbers this morning, and last year around this time the fire season was coming to an end due to the monsoons, but this season it’s been on the rise. , The start of the fire season has been delayed.When we talk about fire conditions at APS, we are talking about rising fire conditions, but it may not be the fire season.” We recognize that there are times of the year when we see high-rise fires. It is no longer just a season, it can exist in May, June, July and now all year round. ”

In addition to building new positions for managing fire risk, APS is using new tools to keep home power supplies safer.

“We have invested heavily in the devices on our system so we can minimize the areas where failures occur. With so many switches and other functions, only areas affected It can be treated quite surgically by stopping ,” Kelly said. It’s called a sectionalization device, and it allows you to really focus on just the affected areas, leaving the rest of your customers energized. So it’s really cool,” Kelly said.

In many cases, APS implements outages intentionally to protect firefighters. Live power lines can be dangerous in smoke-filled environments.

“When firefighters are operating under power lines, smoke and fire can affect the system, so power lines and circuits are de-energized to ensure the safety of firefighters. We don’t want to put them in any further danger,” Kelly said.

Collapsed utility poles also pose a danger to firefighters and evacuees during wildfires. That’s why APS has introduced new tools to further protect utility poles in the event of a fire in Arizona.

“It’s called fire mesh,” Kelly explained. “This is a product intended to protect wooden poles from fire damage. So we are testing it on several circuits and on utility poles in several areas.”

The mesh is breathable so your wet poles won’t rot after a rainstorm.

“If you put it here, you don’t have to worry about it burning up in case of a fire. In some cases, you can’t set up a steel pole because of access. You can’t get in here with boom trucks,” Kelly said.

Kelly said that if wildfires are detected in APS service areas, they will work closely with Incident Command regarding fires from jumps.

“Through that early integration, we were able to launch an internal incident command, keeping crews on standby and preparing materials. We can come in and do the remedial work while it is, so when you are allowed back into your home the electricity will be on, the food in the fridge is cold and it will be better. You can, for that matter,” Kelly said.