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In the News: BPA employs helicopters, more as it tends power lines in effort to prevent wildfires

The Columbian recently reported on BPA’s Wildfire Mitigation Plan and the work Bonneville conducts to reduce the possibility of our infrastructure sparking or being associated with a large wildfire.

The Columbian recently reported on BPA’s Wildfire Mitigation Plan and the work Bonneville conducts to reduce the possibility of our infrastructure sparking or being associated with a large wildfire.

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Workers install a new insulator to a Washougal transmission tower. Damaged equipment is susceptible to sparking, and faults along lines can cause a hot electrical arc. 

BPA was recently in the news as a reporter and photographer from The Columbian visited a worksite on the North Bonneville-Troutdale 230-kilovolt transmission corridor near Washougal, Washington, to witness insulator maintenance being performed on the line and to better understand our wildfire mitigation efforts.

Following major wildfires in California that decimated communities, BPA developed a comprehensive Wildfire Mitigation Plan in 2020 to reduce the potential of BPA’s electrical infrastructure being associated with the start or continuation of a wildfire. In its nearly 85-year history, BPA equipment has not been the source of a large wildfire. That is a track record the agency and Transmission Services work hard to preserve year over year.

Read more about BPA’s wildfire mitigation efforts in The Columbian article “Bonneville Power Administration employs helicopters, more as it tends power lines in effort to prevent wildfires.”  
 

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