A Case for Increased Investment in Wildfire Alerting and Related Lightning Risk Technologies
March 28, 2022
Wildfire counts vary year over year depending on the prevailing weather patterns but have continued to increase over the last few decades and with the ongoing drought in the western U.S there is an even larger surge in average acreage consumed.
Utilities spend millions of dollars each year in wildfire prevention and the mitigation of utility caused wildfires. Early alerting and modeling are critical to limiting and controlling acreage consumed and damage. This paper will discuss three technological advancements in this area: the ability to identify lightning events with the greatest probability of igniting fires, networks of smoke detection cameras for areas with little observation, and the ability to monitor and alert personnel to new and shifting fires threatening utility assets.
