APS: Fire Preventative Power Shut-Offs Are Unlikely In Arizona

Published: Friday, October 25, 2019 - 8:52am
Updated: Friday, October 25, 2019 - 11:47am

Residents in Northern California have been experiencing imposed power shut-offs over the past few weeks as part of a public safety effort.

Utility companies there are turning off the electricity during high winds in an attempt to prevent wildfires.

Wade Ward is with the fire mitigation unit for APS. He said something like that isn’t likely to happen in Arizona because the conditions in this state aren’t the same.

“The most important thing that we’ve learned is that the proactive measures that we’ve put in place over many years of fire mitigation have turned out to be the most preventive and mitigating measures that even California is responding to now," Ward said.

Ward said APS follows several procedures in hopes of preventing wildfires like regularly inspecting power lines and maintaining vegetation around transmission towers.

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