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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Utility-caused wildfires are a subsection of human-caused wildfires that are directly ignited by utilities, usually power lines. They are unplanned ignitions that can cause wild burns.[1] Hotter and drier weather as a result of climate change has been liked to lower moisture content in vegetation, which, along with high tree mortality has created ideal wildfire conditions.[2] Ignition often occurs when power lines come in contact with vegetation, whether elevated or on the ground.[1]
Throughout the world, utilities, especially overhead power lines, have caused wildfires.[3] In 2023, downed power lines sparked fires in Lahaina, Hawaii.[4] In February 2024, on the Texas Panhandle, a decayed utility pole fell on dry grass and sparked the largest wildfire in state history.[5] The 2018 California Camp Fire, the largest and most deadly fire in California state history, was caused by a single faulty clip on an overhead power line.[6][7] In the notorious 2009 'Black Saturday' fires in Victoria, Australia fires sparked by power lines killed 159 people and caused more than $4 Billion (AUS) dollars in damages.[8] In Greece, on August 11th, a wooden electricity pillar with a loose cable held with a clothes hanger, sparked a fire that killed one woman and burned over 10,000 hectares.[9]
Electric companies are investigating solutions such as burying power lines, installing sensors, and using software to monitor cables and automatically shut them off.[10] In 2023 wildfire mitigation plans, Californian utility companies proposed over $9 billion to mitigate factors that cause wildfires.[11]
Industry critics claim that the industry is not doing enough to mitigate these disasters.[10]
Utility-cased wildfires can be started by a variety of factors.
The vast majority of transmission lines, over 70%, in the United States are outdated, and are near 25 years old.[12] The average age for power transformers that power over 90% of the country is 40 years old.[13] Power lines, whether old or new, are susceptible to storm damage, and, in 30% of cases, the power line does not automatically shut off.[14] This can happen when the fallen line draws too little electric current to activate a fuse or circuit breaker.[14] These high-impedance faults (HiZ) can cause high-energy, high-temperature arcing that can cause ignition.[14]
Vegetation contact, and contact with foreign objects, such as trees, are leading causes of wildfires.[1] In California, these factors were responsible for 35%, and 18%, respectively, of utility-related fires larger than 10 acres.[1] Strong winds have been known to exacerbate these problems.[1] Live wires can ignite dry vegetation and fuels, and fallen trees can result in downed lines.[14]
Power lines are traditionally designed with significant clearance between conductors, this prevents them from contacting under normal operating conditions.[15] Under poor conditions, line conductors can slap against one another; this causes high energy arcing, and, occasionally, small bits of molten metal (generally aluminum) are ejected.[16] These ejected pieces of molten aluminum can ignite wildfires.[14]
Many components, such as switches, transformers and insulators, contain thousands of complex circuits and parts.[17] While often able to effectively provide service for decades, they do eventually fail.[14] Occasionally, before complete failures, there is electric arcing and sparks that are too small to be detected by fail-safe sensors.[14] These sparks and electric arcs can result in the ignition of vegetation or foreign objects.[14]
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