Avista is fighting wildfires before they happen

Avista is committed to doing our part to prevent and reduce the impact of wildfire.  During dry weather and high winds, there is a risk that trees, branches, and debris can come in contact with Avista’s power lines and other electrical equipment. This could trigger a spark that ignites wildfire. Avista developed our Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) plan to lower this risk. PSPS lets us turn off power to select areas when extreme weather makes our equipment unsafe to operate. PSPS is only considered when the risk of a fire is extreme. Avista employs analytic tools to monitor the weather seven days out to enable informed decisions.             

We are committed to notifying customers and communities before, during, and after a PSPS event, allowing time to prepare for power disruption. Conditions can change quickly, but we aim to keep those affected as well-informed as we can based on the situation.  

We encourage you to update your contact information with us so you can be notified when we are considering a PSPS. It’s also important to create an outage kit and be ready for potential outages.  

PSPS will only be used in the most extreme weather conditions. It’s one tool we can use to prevent wildfires, but Avista has been working on wildfire prevention for years. In 2020, we launched our comprehensive 10-year Wildfire Mitigation Plan. Avista has completed grid hardening projects in areas of high fire risk. Some of these projects include replacing wooden transmission poles with steel, installing a special fire-retardant wire mesh around the bottom of wood poles, and replacing wooden crossarms on poles with a stronger fiberglass to better protect the electrical equipment and reduce the likelihood of spark-ignition sources. We have also increased vegetation management to reduce contact between trees and power lines and implemented improved tools to better assess fire risk with weather forecasting.