Editors’ Note: Rachel Hansen is the senior communications strategist for the Chelan County Public Utility District (PUD) based in Wenatchee, WA and is a resident of Leavenworth, WA. Chelan County PUD’s vision reads, “In a rapidly changing utility environment, we will provide: The Best Value for the Most People for the Longest Time.” Rachel’s work with the PUD focuses on outreach, public relations and media engagement. Here Rachel shares the expansive public process the PUD went through to develop a fire safety power shutoff policy for portions of Washington’s Chelan County.
I’ll never forget the phone call with the “unofficial fire chief of Little Chumstick Creek.” He’s a retired truck driver who loves a good chat, and he’s a volunteer firefighter who owns a water tender, pumps and generators. He’s the guy neighbors call when their burn pile goes awry.
He wanted to know — why now? After all these years, why are utilities choosing to shut off power during certain weather conditions?
“Why now?” is a question that utilities have taken a hard look at since the Labor Day fires of 2020. Utilities that didn’t proactively turn off power face class-action lawsuits. Regulations in California and Oregon require all investor-owned utilities to have PSPS plans. Insurers are spooked, with double-digit rate increases for utilities in fire-prone areas, and fewer insurers willing to cover wildfire risk at all.
A contractor trims trees away from powerlines in 2020. Chelan PUD has more than doubled its vegetation management efforts in recent years to reduce fire risk and improve reliability. Photo by Chelan County PUD.
I’m part of a team at Chelan Public Utility District that developed one of Washington state’s first public safety power shutoff (PSPS) policies. We call it a fire safety outage plan, and it’s designed to prevent utility infrastructure from causing a fire when the wind is howling and conditions are tinder dry.
Power systems can create sparks when a tree lands on the line, or when lines touch in high winds – that hasn’t changed much over the years. What’s changed is fuel load. Forest health is declining, clearance areas around powerlines are limited, and more people are moving into fire-prone areas.
For Chelan PUD, the journey into “why now” started by analyzing wildfire risk in Chelan County. We reached out to a network of local fire experts, including Annie Schmidt at Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network (FAC Net) and Patrick Haggerty of Cascadia Conservation District. We compiled studies from the U.S. Forest Service, state Department of Natural Resources and we commissioned studies of our electrical system.
In summary, we learned:
- Chelan County is far and away the most at risk for wildfire in Washington. According to a 2018 Forest Service study, four of the 10 most exposed communities are in our service area, including the No. 1-ranked Leavenworth.
- The Lake Wenatchee-Plain community – a small mountain town about 20 miles north of Leavenworth – is the most at risk due to its proximity of structures, trees and overhead powerlines.
We focused on Lake Wenatchee, Plain and upper Chumstick Highway as the pilot area for fire season 2021. By prioritizing a small, high-risk area, we kept the project manageable, but also scalable in case we needed to expand this plan to other fire-prone areas in Chelan County.
Map of Phase 1 fire safety outage area. The area includes about 3,900 electrical service meters and 250 wastewater customers. Map credit: Chelan PUD website.
We convened an Expert Working Group to help identify the fire ecology of the area and develop a set of thresholds for implementing a fire safety outage – the conditions that might lead to an uncontrollable fire. Based on historical weather data, these conditions occur approximately every 3-5 years. These are rare events when the threat to public safety is greater than the need for electricity.
Lake Wenatchee/Plain is a tight-knit, mountain community of full-time and part-time residents. We serve about 3,900 electrical service meters there, and 250 wastewater customers. Many residents are retired, but as one community organizer said, “We don’t really retire in Lake Wenatchee, we just start working for free.” Their volunteer fire department is trusted and well-organized, with an auxiliary force of about 100 members, and at least a dozen active EMTs. Several neighborhoods are certified Firewise USA® sites, with free chipping and cost-share programs.
The Coles Corner substation serves the Lake Wenatchee area. Photo credit: Chelan County PUD
Still, we knew a fire safety outage plan might be a tough sell in this area. PSPS is something they do in California, and its rocky and bitter debut there made national headlines. After careful thought, we developed a communications plan that took a phased-in, grassroots approach. Chelan PUD is known for extensive outreach to its customers and stakeholders.
We asked local fire chiefs, Chelan County Emergency Management, and other public agencies to identify challenges to consider, such as interruptions to cell and radio communications, water availability and the needs of people more vulnerable to outages. We recruited community leaders who had expertise in these areas to help us address these concerns proactively.
We presented the plan and fielded questions at meetings and events facilitated by key community organizations, including: the Lake Wenatchee Fire Auxiliary, the area’s county commissioner, Chumstick Wildfire Stewardship Coalition and the River Road Firewise USA® site. As we broadened our reach with mailed postcards and emails to all customers in the pilot area, many community leaders supported the plan and helped us spread the word. In the end, it’s the conversations between neighbors that matter most.
A notice of the public meeting from the Lake Wenatchee Info website.
Rachel Hansen of Chelan PUD hands a fact sheet about the utility’s fire safety outage plan to a local family at Lake Wenatchee Safety Day, hosted by Lake Wenatchee Fire Auxiliary, in May 2021.
Overall, people understood the fire risk, and they appreciated the PUD’s proactive approach. There were still concerns, mainly from business owners who want more time to arrange for back-up generation. We continue to work collaboratively with the community to prepare. We have developed an online page (at chelanpud.org/fsom) — that lays out what a fire safety outage is, how to prepare for it and what we are forecasting.
Two factors contributed to the success of our outreach: A deep understanding of the community, and the support of key leaders, like the “unofficial fire chief of Little Chumstick Creek.” His main concern was that his neighbors had the information they needed to be prepared, and especially the “why now.” The answer: because after careful consideration, research and engagement now is the time to put measures in place to protect our most at-risk communities should the need arise.
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Thanks for the great re-cap of this effort Rachel! Chelan PUD really stepped up to the plate with early and often communication throughout this planning process as well as big investments in outreach and partnerships with local FAC groups.
Thanks Patrick!
May your successful efforts prove to be a road map for others dealing with PSPS.
FOREST FIRE prevention.
from the “unofficial fire chief of the Little Chumstick”.
First the backstory. We built our house on 20 wooded acres during the fires of 1994 with cedar siding and a large front deck and a 10′ wide staircase an excellent place for a fire to start. We had no concept that we would ever catch on fire. Just stupid or uninformed or naive. All 3?
2008 I went to 2 Chumstick Wildfire Coalition meetings,went home and promptly bought a 1 ton dually pickup 2 350 gallon water tanks a pump and several hundred feet of hose and built a fire truck. Little did I know about the adventures that would take place in the coming years.
2010 I was asked by a friend and volunteer firefighter at district 3 to join because they needed someone who lived up the Chumstick to respond dependably out of station 2 with a water tender. I was a retired truck driver and had a tanker license so I was perfectly capable and it sounded interesting.
So the journey began of learning about firefighting.
I was with the fire department for 5 years and looking back I don’t feel I learned anything about fighting fire that would help EXCEPT there is NO guarantee that “mine or your” home would be saved in a
forest fire. I feel we are basically on our own as we have seen entire towns burned down. Except where people who were equipped would stay to save their home sometimes with just a garden hose. I will inform you now that these actions are never encouraged by local authorities but when all you have is going to be lost some people will do anything to save them.
Update
I have also added a second pump a Waterous PB18 serious water pumping power. I can run 5 hoses at 1 time off my first truck.I also have accumulated about 2000 feet of hose and 12 Nozzles. I have over 10,000 gallons above ground water storage with an ajoining well that puts out 15gpm and generators to run the well if the power goes out and 3 ground pumps for filling trucks. The big pump is a BE Pressure pump that puts out 140 gpm at 140psi at 330feet. Now the adventure.
2017 last Friday in April. My adjoining neighbor called me at 1:11 pm ( she called me before calling 911) 30 seconds later I was out the door within minutes I was there and we got a hose uphill of the fire in heavy brush and timber and got the fire slowed down. A tender from Plain got there about 1:30 and hooked up to my engine and it wasn’t till about 1:40 when an engine got there from Leavenworth to take my place.
The most important thing about a forest fire is getting on it as fast as possible to keep it small. Response time is critical.
Note. For this I was threatened with arrest.
2021 Spring. I put a second truck together.
Sunday May 23rd very strong windy afternoon blowing up from the Chumstick I was walking down the road (same property as 4 years ago) there was smoke in the woods I walked back and saw the woods were on fire with a very strong wind blowing it towards the wooded hillside and with all my mental preparations I freaked out. I called my wife and she was down there with the second truck in minutes and she got a hose on it. I called a neighbor to help went home and got the other truck and called Leavenworth. We got the fire knocked down.
What happened? FOCUS.
The new neighbor had burned a brush pile the previous weekend thought it was out. Brush was added a week later and restarted because of the wind and blew sparks 150 feet into the woods instant forest fire.
Solution I think is do something. Doing nothing never fixed anything.
Buy an old pickup truck buy caged agricultural tanks or a large water tank. I have 20 they work great for above ground storage and or 2 in a pickup truck with pump and hose.
Buy a swimming pool $350 water pump $600 and 1 inch hose $200 per 100 feet get plenty and $30 nozzle (Axmen Fire Missoula, Mt. Has every thing you need) and you too could at the least maybe have a chance to save your home or the neighborhood.
Even with our water storage last year we bought 2 Bestways swimming pools 8×14 feet for about $700.00 which added about 3800 more gallons. Took us maybe an hour to set it up and we took it down this fall.
Summary.
It’s not that big of a deal to be prepared or expensive to do it for about $3000 to set up something that in an emergency could make the difference between loosing everything or not. At least you get a pool.
Now the secret weapon.
Gel solutions FireIce. Its an additive that you mix with water. 25 pound bucket ($250 each takes 2 for an average house-Axmen) mix 1 bucket with 300 gallons of water for a building or Mix with 500 gallons to spray brush. Spray mixed water on building and depending on weather stays on building for a day or so, can be misted to revitalize. So with fire imminent spray on house leave. I have 18 yes 18 buckets. I like having enough.
Final notes.
Bob Sthor ? with the forest service said at the Chumstick Wildfire meeting its not if, its when the Chumstick will burn that’s why I did what I did.
My journey was a learning experience and I did it all by “hmmm” guess I’ll try this. It’s all worked out so far and I feel very proud that I have contributed to possibly saving the Chumstick from a devastating forest fire. Twice. We’ll never know.
I feel very confident in being able to save our home or even a neighbors if we are ever in a forest fire and after talking to Rachel I am even more confident that what the folks at the PUD are doing will make a significant impact on stopping possible future forest fires. I am ready are you? Everyone locks their doors buys insurance wears seat belts. This is such a small investment that anyone can do and then hope you never need it.
How much would you spend to save your home or the neighborhood or possibly someone’s life?
I believe that people go through life thinking ” its not going to happen to me “.
I have always been the person who never wants to say “gee guess I should have done something “. That’s why I did something.
Unofficial fire chief of the
Unofficial Little Chumstick Fire department