Wildfire Safety

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CPI Wildfire Risk Mitigation

CPI operational procedures include plans to mitigate wildfires throughout our service area. This is especially important with longer dry periods, temperature extremes and reporting by the media of significant fires.

CPI’s standard practice is to construct, operate and maintain its infrastructure in a manner that minimizes the risk of a wildfire posed by its electrical system.

Our Operational Wildfire Risk Mitigation Plan focuses on three main components; vegetation management, system coordination and system hardening. The plan uses a systematic approach to implement immediate, short and long term actions and documents these activities for future reference. Click here for a copy of CPI’s Wildfire Mitigation Plan.

Personal Preparation

Below are helpful links and resources to assist in your personal preparedness.

  • Update your contact information with CPI. You can do this either through you CPI online account or by giving us a call at 800-872-9036.
  • Sign up to receive for emergency alerts from your county’s local emergency management department.
  • Create a defense perimeter around your property by clearing flammable trees and plants away from your house and outbuildings.
  • Establish an emergency plan. Make sure to include for medical needs such as life support equipment. You can invest in a backup generator to help supply these needs in the case of an extended outage.
  • Familiarize yourself with the the three levels of evacuation orders (READY/SET/GO), and develop an plan in the event you need to evacuate.

Additional Preparedness Resources

Vegetation Management

  • We continue our rotation of right-of-way tree trimming, mowing and herbicide application. Click here for more information on tree trimming practices and locations.
  • Inspect power lines by air and ground, especially in high risk fire locations.
  • Conduct hazard tree and vegetation assessments outside of existing right-of-way locations.

System Coordination

  • Intensify system monitoring and coordination on extreme weather days. This includes reconfiguring automatic settings requiring personnel to visit the site, and visually inspect the equipment and surrounding area prior to reenergizing. This can result in longer outages, but will help prevent a potential wildfire.
  • Review fire level ratings daily in each area that we serve.
  • Continuing partnerships with groups like the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, Oregon Department of Forestry, local tribes, state and county governments and emergency responders to coordinate wildfire responses and keep the public informed if incidents occur.

System Hardening

  • Selectively replace poles in areas of high fire risk with fire resistant poles.
  • Continue to maintain existing infrastructure and replace aging equipment.
  • Strategically convert overhead power lines to underground in high risk areas.

With this plan CPI is well positioned to limit a potential wildfire in the areas that we serve to help keep our communities safe.