The federal Bureau of Land Management issued new guidance Thursday for reducing wildfire risks along powerline rights-of-way on some public lands.
The agency’s new policy authorizes utilities to do routine maintenance, like pruning and clearing dead fuels and hazard trees, to prevent or suppress wildfire without prior approval from the BLM.
The policy also offers guidance on information the BLM should collect about utilities’ work to prevent fires, like the size and type of trees cut, practices used and acreages.
This fall an electric utility in California shut off power to reduce the likelihood of its transmission lines igniting fires. Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s transmission lines previously set the deadly Camp Fire ablaze in 2018.
