Over the last few years, the world has seen an uptick in wildfires due largely in part to climate change. Wildfire prevention has become a major industry as a result. Though it is not possible to predict and prevent all wildfires, there is much that can be done. One of the most important measures to be taken in the prevention of wildfires is the maintenance of electrical powerlines.

On July 13, 2021, the Dixie wildfire in Northern California started when Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) powerlines came in contact with a tree. The fire became the 2nd worst in California’s history, consuming 963,309 acres of land before finally being contained on October 25, 2021. The tree that ignited the Dixie fire was found to be one of 8 million within striking distance of power lines. Since the Dixie fire, PG&E released an extensive Wildfire Mitigation Plan which included a commitment to bury up to 10,000 miles of powerlines and increase inspection measures.

Southern California Edison (SCE), the primary electrical company for Southern California, has developed their own wildfire mitigation plan utilizing drone technology. The Dixie Fire, and others started by faulty powerlines, were all preventable. However, carrying out regular powerline inspections to maintain vegetation overgrowth and structural stability is not as simple as it seems. Every power company has thousands of miles of powerlines that need to be inspected. Many of these lines are in hard to reach places. Traditionally, a crew in a truck will travel along each line and manually inspect them, a process that can take weeks to do. For hard to reach locations, a small manned plane or helicopter is used. However, using manned aircraft is exorbitantly expensive and provides unreliable data.

SCE has 1.4million powerline poles, with a quarter of them in high fire risk areas. With the use of drones, SCE has been able to successfully inspect nearly 400,000 poles as part of its Wildfire Mitigation Plan. Not only has the use of drones sped up inspection times, but they have reduced costs and provide technicians with detailed data to prevent wildfires while still providing the best service possible to millions of customers. A team of trained and licensed pilots quickly collect high resolution images of the poles. The images are then sent to inspectors for further analysis.

According to a report from SCE, inspectors then look for damage such as “missing cotter keys or pins, cross arm damage, or poles that may show deterioration.” The report goes on to say, “If a structure is deemed to pose an immediate risk of ignition, inspectors will create a notification to deploy a field crew for repairs.” And as SCE Aerial Inspections Team member Alyssa Grigoryan said, “We feel that doing aerial inspections enhances our ability to see equipment from top-down that you could not necessarily see from bottom-up.”

Within the first year of using drones, SCE identified more than 800 poles at risk of ignition. The drone identification system led to the immediate repair of these structures, preventing wildfire scenarios. Other measures include burying lines and shutting power off during high fire risk times, but the drones have by far been paramount in leading SCE’s Wildfire Mitigation Plan. “The aerial inspections work,” relates the SCE report, “and the cutting edge tools help SCE continue to protect our customers and communities from potential wildfires.”

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