Experts warn that utilities in the United States are not investing enough in technologies that can reduce the odds of wildfires ignited by aging electricity infrastructure, even as climate change increases the risk of disasters in more places.
“There are some utilities that are really leaders and are getting ahead of the risk,” Michael Wara, director of the climate and energy policy program at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, told National Public Radio (NPR).
“And then there are others that we look at and think are walking into a catastrophe.”
Several wildfires in the U.S. over the past few years have been linked to electricity infrastructure. Most recently, the Smokehouse Creek Fire in the Texas Panhandle started when a decayed power pole snapped. Similar events include a 2023 fire in Lāhainā, Hawaii, believed to have started from a downed power line, and when California utility PG&E had to file for bankruptcy after being found responsible for the 2019 Camp Fire that sprang from neglected infrastructure.
While large wildfires started by utility equipment were once considered a California problem, “these disasters are increasingly happening in many more places as forces turbocharged by climate change like extreme heat and drought wreak havoc on electric grids that were not built or upgraded to withstand them.”
Other factors—like decades of fire suppression management that has allowed fuel to accumulate, when natural processes would have periodically burned it—are also at play.
Utilities often argue against being held responsible, but their aging infrastructure is increasingly a hazard, reports the New York Times. A 2018 study showed that power lines were the only fire cause that did not show a decline in frequency in California since the 1960s.
Some critics say utilities are not doing enough to address the issue, while others contend shareholder profits in private power companies take priority over due diligence.
“A lot of utilities probably aren’t spending as much internal staff time and potentially as much money on those parts of the business that don’t earn Wall Street a return, but are really important for safety,” David Pomerantz, executive director of utility watchdog the Energy and Policy Institute, told NPR.
Utilities say they are making an effort, including by burying power lines to prevent infrastructure damage and fires—but it’s an expensive option. Cheaper alternatives include placing weather sensors on power lines to transmit information about dangerous conditions, and fast trip technology that can shut off power to grid sections within milliseconds if a fallen tree limb lands on a power line.
Compared to burying lines, which can cost US$3 million to $4 million per mile, fast trip technology costs about $5,000 to $10,000 per mile. But it remains unpopular because it can leave residents and businesses without power and utilities prefer “approaches that keep the lights on,” writes the Times.
Not all companies are unprepared, and some are taking steps to keep their lines safe, said Scott Aaronson, senior vice president of security and preparedness at the Edison Electric Institute. This includes investing in sensors, managing vegetation to keep threats away from lines, and conducting proactive power shutoffs.
