At Holy Cross Energy, we want to reaffirm our unwavering commitment to safety, especially as wildfire risk becomes an increasingly urgent concern across our region.

We’ve taken bold, proactive steps to reduce the risk of wildfires caused by electrical infrastructure. One of the most effective tools we use is “fast tripping,” a system setting that increases relay sensitivity during heightened fire danger. When fire weather becomes significantly elevated, for example during a Red Flag Warning in any part of our service territory, we enable these settings to reduce the chance of ignition. If a tree or debris contacts a line, the power cuts off more quickly than under normal settings, minimizing potential fire risk.

These changes are made for the safety of our communities, but they can result in short, momentary power “blinks.” Therefore, we deeply appreciate your patience and understanding on these high-risk days.

In addition, we’ve embraced cutting-edge inspection technologies to enhance our wildfire mitigation strategy:

• Drone inspections give our crews a bird’s-eye view of our system, helping detect issues not visible from the ground
• Multispectral imagery allows us to assess tree health, decay, and fallen vegetation, helping to prioritize areas for vegetation management
• LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) enables us to build detailed digital models of our infrastructure for more efficient system awareness and planning
• Infrared thermography identifies “hot spots” on equipment that can’t be seen by the naked eye

These inspection technologies allow us to identify and correct system problems before they become failures.

Lastly, extreme fire conditions may warrant the need for more extreme safety measures. While rare and used only as a last resort, our team has worked diligently with our local governments and regional transmission partners on a plan for potential Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) planned outages. An action of this scale will never be taken lightly, but it is another tool to prevent catastrophic wildfire ignition from electric infrastructure.

Safety will always guide our operations, and we thank you for your continued support and trust.