Wildfire safety practices

When wildfire risk is high, customers may experience unplanned outages more frequently, or that last longer, because we’ve turned on enhanced safety settings that increase the sensitivity of our equipment. For example, debris contacting a line during a windstorm could trigger an outage, and the power would remain off until we can manually inspect the line to be sure it’s safe before restoring power.

During active wildfires, FortisBC may shut off power in consultation with local fire authorities, to support firefighting activities. We may also apply fire retardant and fire blankets to protect our equipment. Once the fire has passed, we will inspect our equipment for damage, make repairs and restore your power.

This is a new, precautionary measure where we proactively shut off power in high-risk fire regions during extreme weather conditions, such as high temperatures, low humidity, strong winds and dry vegetation. When those extreme conditions are present, FortisBC may shut off your power to reduce potential ignition sources.

Once weather conditions improve, and it’s safe to do so, our crews will inspect our equipment and restore your power. We'll continue to monitor the area throughout the wildfire season in the event we need to activate another PSPS.

We’ll only intentionally turn off power as a last resort and we’ll work to limit the scope, duration and frequency of these events. We’ll also attempt to provide as much advance warning as possible and provide updates throughout the outage. It’s important to always be prepared to be without power for at least 72 hours in the event we need to turn off your power during periods of extreme wildfire risk.

In rapidly changing circumstances in order to protect the safety of our customers and communities, we may need to turn off power without notice. When possible, we would aim to provide notice between 24 and 48 hours in advance.

In recent years, we have seen greater wildfire activity and more extreme weather events in British Columbia, including in our electricity service area. FortisBC is implementing a PSPS policy now in response to escalating effects of extreme weather, recent devastating wildfire activity and evolving industry practices.

Our top priority is the safety of the public and our employees. PSPS policy is the next step in our evolving wildfire safety practices to help keep you and your community safe.

We’re implementing the PSPS policy in areas identified as having the highest wildfire risk. This decision is based on evidence-based factors such as proximity to wildfire-prone areas and weather conditions. Before we carry out any PSPS event, we will carefully monitor for elevated fire risk conditions like high temperatures, low humidity, strong winds and dry vegetation to ensure we are taking appropriate action. Our rollout plan includes comprehensive communication and education to keep stakeholders and customers informed.