1 STAFF REPORT
DATE
: June 7, 2022
TO: J
ustin Hess, City Manager
FR
OM: Dawn Roth Lindell, General Manager, Burbank Water, and Power VIA: Riad Sleiman, Assistant General Manager, Electric Services BY: Calvin Clark, Senior Electrical Engineer
SUBJECT: Review of the Annual Update to the Burbank Water and Power Wildfire Mitigation Plan
RECOMMENDATION
1. Verify that Burbank Water and Power’s (BWP) Wildfire Mitigation Plan (Attachment 1) complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards; and
2. Direct BWP to accept all reasonable and appropriate comments on the Wildfire Mitigation Plan (WMP) from the public, other local and state agencies , and interested parties that are received prior to July 1, 2022.
BACKGROUND
The State of California enacted Senate Bill 901 in September 201 8 and Assembly Bill 1054 in July 2019. Th ese bills amended PUC 8387, which addresses wildfire mitigation for public-owned utilities (POU). This legislation included several new provisions, one of which is a requirement for each POU to prepare and present a WMP to its governing body annually. Additionally, each POU must submit their WMP to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board by July 1 st of every year. Since the first WMP was drafted in December 2019, BWP has remained in compliance with this state law.
In 201
8, a single, statewide fire-threat map was adopted to define different high fire-threat districts (HFTDs), which are areas of elevated fire risk (Tier 2) and areas of extreme fire risk (Tier 3) from electric utility-related wildfires. Within these HFTDs, increased fire-safety regulations were enacted regarding items such as vegetation management, clearances , and inspections. About 28% of BWP’s geographical service territory is located within a Tier 2 HFTD. BWP maintains about 11 miles of overhead electrical lines within the Tier 2
WATER AND
POWER
2 HFTD, which is about 5.4% of the total overhead lines in the service territory. BWP’s WMP analyzes the risk that these assets pose and defines several mitigation activities that BWP pursues each year to reduce the risk of electrical facilities igniting a wildfire in Burbank.
DISCUSSION
In 2021, BWP completed several wildfire mitigation activities in the Tier 2 HFTD including:
• Replacing 5 deteriorated poles
• Proactively replacing 3 overloaded transformers
• Completing all annual asset and vegetation inspections • Trimming 213 trees and removing 1 tree
• Blocking reclosing during the 11 red flag warning days BWP added a new mitigation activity in the 2022 WMP update, which is a pilot for new system monitoring devices that will provide improved situational awareness, improve fault location and response time, rapidly detect fire ignitions, and provide more granular weather monitoring. Looking ahead, BWP is studying additional construction standard improvements in the Tier 2 HFTD that could provide additional wildfire risk reduction.
BWP staff also reviewed all rules, regulations, and standards, including the State of California’s General Order 95, Rules for Overhead Electric Line Construction, and General Order 165, Inspection Requirements for Electric Distribution and Transmission Facilities. BWP staff ensured that this year’s update to the WMP remains in compliance with all such rules, regulations, and standards.
FISCAL IMPACT
The proposed Wildfire Mitigation Plan has a fiscal impact on BWP’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) budget for the fiscal year ( FY) 2021–2022 and FY 2022 –2023. BWP has budgeted $500,000 of CIP funds in FY 2021 –2022 and is proposing an additional $500,000 of CIP funds in FY 2022 –2023 for the installation of new technology and materials needed to further reduce the risk of ignitions from electrical equipment in the Tier 2 HFTD.
CONCLUSION
BWP’s updated WMP is a comprehensive document that was prepared to comply with PUC Section 8387. The activities outlined in this WMP update will further reduce the risk of wildfire due to BWP electrical facilities, improve the reliability of circuits in the Tier 2 HFTD, and continue our long-standing commendable safety record in our community.
ATTACHMENT
Attachment 1 – Burbank Water and Power Wildfire Mitigation Plan 2022