1 STAFF REPORT
DATE
: June 3, 2025
TO: J
ustin Hess, City Manager
FR
OM: Mandip Kaur Samra, General Manager, Burbank Water and Power VIA: Riad Sleiman, Assistant General Manager, Electric Services BY: Bobola Akerson, Principal Electrical Engineer
SUBJ
ECT: Verify the Annual Update to the Burbank Water and Power Wildfire Mitigation Plan
RECO
MMENDATION
1. Verify that Burbank Water and Power’s Wildfire Mitigation Plan (Attachment 1) complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards.
2. Direct Burbank Water and Power to accept all reasonable and appropriate comments on the Wildfire Mitigation Plan from the public, other local and state agencies, and interested parties that are received prior to July 1, 2025.
BACKGRO
UND
This report is provided to inform the Council of the City of Burbank (Council) about the annual update of Burbank Water and Power’s (BWP) Wildfire Mitigation Plan (WMP) and to accept comments from the public and the Council. The WMP must be updated annually to comply with Public Utilities Code § 8387 (PUC 8387) regarding wildfire mitigation for publicly owned utilities (POUs).
The S
tate of California enacted Senate Bill 901 in September 2018 and Assembly Bill 1054 in July 2019. These bills amended PUC 8387, which addresses wildfire mitigation for POUs. This legislation included several new provisions, requiring each POU to prepare and present a WMP to its governing body annually. Each POU must submit their WMP to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board (WSAB) by July 1st of every year.
Since the first WMP was drafted in December 2019, BWP has complied with this S tate law.
WATER AND
POWER
2 In 2018, 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 HFT Ds, increased fire safety regulations were enacted regarding vegetation management, clearances, and inspections. About 28% of BWP’s geographical service territory is within a Tier 2 HFTD. BWP maintains approximately 11 miles of overhead electrical lines within the Tier 2 HFTD, which is about 5.4% of the total overhead lines in the service territory.
BWP’s WMP analyzes the risk these assets pose and defines several mitigation activities that BWP pursues yearly to reduce the risk of electrical facilities igni ting a wildfire in Burbank.
DISCUSSION
During the 2024 WMP cycle, BWP completed several wildfire mitigation activities in the Tier 2 HFTD, including:
• Completing all annual asset and vegetation inspections • Trimming 238 trees
• Blocking reclosing (automatic circuit re-energization) during Red Flag Warning days
B
WP also reviewed all rules, regulations, and standards, including the State of California’s General Order 95, Rules for Overhead Electric Line Construction, General Order 165, and Inspection Requirements for Electric Distribution and Transmission Facilities. BWP drafted a WMP that is compliant with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards.
D
uring the January 2025 windstorm, Burbank experienced several outages on the electric system, as this was a region- wide event. Customers fed by the circuits in the HFTD experienced outages as a result of high winds that caused the following:
• Vegetation falling into electric lines;
• Wind damage to the electric wires, causing breakage and falling to the ground; and
• Significant swinging of electric wires causing them to slap together.
F
ive of the 10 circuits that serve the HFTD experienced outages during the January windstorm. While affected customers experienced outages during that event, the electric infrastructure did not cause ignitions. BWP has implemented several overall mitigation measures in the HFTD in the past years to help reduce the risk of igniting a fire from electric equipment. The following is a partial list of wildfire mitigation practices and procedures that were in effect for the HFTD during the January 2025 windstorm. A full list of general mitigation activities is included in the WMP:
3 • Activated more sensitive, quicker-acting relay settings, which significantly reduce the risk of igniting a wildfire. This mitigation measure significantly reduces arcs and sparks that are created during a short circuit, such as a tree branch contacting a power line.
• Replaced conventional fuses with non- expulsive fuses in the most critical priority 2.1 zone of the Tier 2 HFTD . Conventional fuses can create arcs and sparks during fuse operation, whereas non-expulsive fuses do not. • Blocked automatic reclosing. In the event of an outage, this procedure allows staff to patrol the electric lines before the circuit is re- energized, thereby minimizing the chance of igniting a wildfire.
• Used an Outage Management System (OMS), an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network , and a Geographic Information System (GIS), which helped BWP pinpoint the geographic location of the outage and respond quicker.
• Increased minimum clearance areas between vegetation and power lines from 18 inches to 48 inches and minimum trimming requirement from 4 feet to 12 feet in accordance with the State of California’s General Order No. 95 (GO 95).
This reduces the risk of vegetation contacting a power line. • Increased the frequency of vegetation management inspections for overhead distribution lines in its Tier 2 Zone to once per year, which reduces the chance of vegetation growing into the minimum clearance area.
T
he next WMP update (2026) will be a comprehensive update that requires review by an Independent Evaluator (IE). During the 2026 update, the IE will evaluate in greater detail BWP’s performance during the January 2025 windstorm.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This activity has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, and as such, is not a “project” subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) 14 Cal. Code Regs § 15378.
T
he existing capital improvement programs in the approved budget used for the mitigation activities in the WMP consist of several projects. Prior to the commencement of each “project,” staff will determine if it has the potential to result in a direct or indirect physical change to the environment and if it is subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
FISCAL IMPACT
The proposed Wildfire Mitigation Plan has a fiscal impact on BWP’s Capital Improvement Plan budget. Since fiscal year 2021- 22, BWP has budgeted CIP funds each year for 4 installing new technology and materials needed to reduce the risk of ignitions from electrical equipment in the Tier 2 HFTD. Future full deployment of all mitigation activities will require additional funding, which will be accounted for in future budget proposals.
CONCLUSION
BWP’s WMP is a comprehensive document that meets the statutory requirements in accordance with PUC § 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 its long-standing commendable safety record in the community.
ATTACHMENT
Attachment 1 – Burbank Water and Power Wildfire Mitigation Plan 2025