Wildfire Protection: Safety First

The Columbia Rural Electric Association (CREA) Operations team, which includes linemen, management, administrative, and support staff, has many responsibilities, but one primary mission guides everything they do: Keep the lights on and the power flowing safely and securely across our entire system 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Every summer, that primary directive becomes, “Do all that, and at the same time, protect the system from the added challenges that summer weather can bring; the most dangerous and devastating of those heat-fueled challenges being the threat of wildfire.

Unfortunately, at times, those 2 goals can seem to work in opposition to each other.

“There are things we can do to ‘harden the grid,’ so to speak,” says Tad Iseminger, Columbia REA Operations superintendent. “Some of these tools are designed to prevent a situation where our energized lines could spark a fire, and some of the things we do are designed to protect our system in the case of a wildfire spreading into our service area.”

1 of the primary protective steps we take during fire season is to set our system on “Fire Safety Mode,” which changes our recloser settings to “1-shot” mode. A recloser functions much like the circuit breaker in your house, automatically cutting off power whenever it detects a problem in the electrical flow. Normally, after detecting an interruption—like a tree branch brushing up against a line—the recloser opens for a brief period to allow the fault to clear, and if the interruption resolves itself or is no longer detected, restores the power by reclosing the circuit. If the problem persists, the device will attempt to reset itself a few times (typically 3 or 4) before it finally stays open, isolating the troubled section of the network.

However, when set to 1-shot mode, the recloser opens at the first sign of trouble and won’t try to reset itself, prioritizing safety over convenience. The tradeoff is that power outages may last longer, since a crew must travel to the site and visually patrol the entire section of line before re-energizing. Depending on where the nearest Columbia REA crew is at the time of the incident, the restoration process can take much more time than the near-instant reset that would occur under normal recloser operation. This process can take even longer during nighttime hours.

Another phrase you may have heard in relation to wildfire precautions is “Fire Safety Power Shutoff,” or FSPS. Columbia REA does have the ability to de-energize any part of our system under extreme conditions. If it is determined that a power shutoff would be necessary to prevent the start or spread of wildfire in our service area, an FSPS may be utilized as a last resort. Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) also has the ability to employ this safety measure on its transmission lines, which could potentially impact Columbia REA members in the unlikely event that a BPA shutoff de-energizes transmission lines that feed our system.

The number 1 priority at Columbia REA is safety: not just the safety of our lines, but the safety of our members. None of these fire safety measures is employed without careful consideration of how they will impact our ability to deliver electricity to you, our members. We will always do everything in our power to keep the lights on, but if we ever do have to turn them off for a short time, it is only because we want to be able to turn them on again as quickly as possible.