Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
County leaders hear areas of concern
DAVENPORT — Increasing wildfire risks year-by-year throughout Eastern Washington have heightened local concern about dangers to property, livestock and livelihoods…particularly following the 2020 Whitney Road Fire in Lincoln County and this year’s Gray Fire in Medical Lake.
Melanie Rose and Jan Hoogstad with Avista paid the Lincoln County Commissioners a visit Monday, Sept. 18 to discuss wildfire concerns and potential steps the company is taking to try and mitigate wildfire starts caused by company power lines.
Rose discussed a 10-year “wildfire resiliency plan” the company has formulated.
“We plan to spend $410 million over 10 years on this plan,” Rose told the commissioners.
Some steps include replacing wood power poles with steel phones, wrapping wood poles in fire retardant mesh, inspecting for and cutting down dead, dying and diseased trees and incorporating remote technologies like satellite images to help with tree inspections.
The company also assessed fire risk based on Avista infrastructure throughout the region. In Lincoln County, the highest risk is in the northeast corner north of Reardan in the Devil’s Gap and Long Lake areas, Hoogstad said.
“That is where we are most concerned about fire threat in Lincoln County,” he said.
Increased wildfire activity could lead to prolonged power outages in the summer, Rose said.
“Our message for customers is you could be out of power for longer and more periods in the summer as we reclose circuits and inspect for fire danger,” Rose said.
The company is also investigating implementing public safety power shutoffs if necessary, which is preemptively turning off power to various locations prior to extreme weather impacts. This is currently used by some power companies in California, Rose said.
“We’re looking to be ready to use it by the 2024 fire season,” Rose said. “But we honestly hope we never have to use it.”
In such events, substations would be set to the “highest sensitivity,” meaning if anything hits, it’ll shut itself off, Hoogstad said.
Commissioner Jo Gilchrist asked how this would impact rural residents that rely on wells for water.
“That’s the biggest concern we’ve heard in talking to customers,” Rose responded. “The second is that trees will fall and hit powerlines.”
“We are encouraging customers to be prepared with a backup generator,” she said.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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