Wildfire Mitigation
By Tracy Turner, Operations Manager
Lately there has been a lot of discussion and news coverage on wildfires, especially in the western United States. Due to extremely dry conditions, these fires cover a large area in a short amount of time and the mountainous terrain makes fighting fires very difficult. We don’t have the mountains or the extremely dry conditions in central Kansas (thanks to the big January snows), but spring winds and dry conditions will be here before you know it. This will increase the fire dangers across the fields and pastures.
For the last several years DSO has worked hard to replace older poles and conductor to “harden” the system, making it better able to withstand high winds and other potentially damaging conditions. We are continuing this practice, replacing an average of20 to 25 miles of poles and conductor per year.
In addition, we are starting work on a wildfire mitigation project which includes replacing our hydraulic reclosers with electronic reclosers. The new electronic reclosers react much faster than the hydraulic ones in de-energizing the lines in case of a fault situation. We will also have the capability to remotely turn off power during times of high fire danger or other emergency situations.
We all know the kind of crazy winds and storms we can face and how the weather can change when you least expect it. Hardening our system and installing the electronic reclosers will help DSO prepare our system when those strong winds and storms hit. As always DSO will be working to stay ahead of these events and to limit damage and power outages in case a disaster happens.