Just as the hot weather settles in, Rocky Mountain Power is warning Utahns to be prepared for potential outages in areas that are prone to wildfires.
"We have changed our protection settings in these areas, so if there is a fault in these areas, the power will be cut and it won’t be immediately restored in some cases until someone can check the substation or check the line to make sure that everything’s okay," said David Eskelsen, a spokesperson for Rocky Mountain Power.
FOX 13 News Anchor Amy Nay looked into this story after she received an email from RMP, as a customer located in central Utah. So, she asked the utility company for more details on the measures.
"I got the same email because you and I are obviously in one of our fire high-consequence areas," Eskelsen said in a Zoom interview. "When wildfire risk is elevated, we may place some of our equipment on more sensitive settings to mitigate the risk of starting a wildfire if a power line is contacted. When these settings are in place, our lines will de-energize within fractions of a second when interference is detected."
That's from a YouTube video the utility posted that walks viewers through the practice they've now put into place over the past three years.
But it was news to some people we caught up with, like mom of four Audrey Belnap of Mayfield.
"I hadn't heard anything about that. Maybe I received an email, but that doesn't mean I saw it!" she said.
When asked how they would handle a possibly longer than usual outage, she replied: "I’m not terribly worried at this point. We’d open windows, we’d make it work. The kids can take a break from their electronics and we can read some books!"
She added that it was nice to see the company take action and try to help protect us from a natural disaster like a wildfire in our community.
"Generally, most outages that are caused by faults that produce damage are restored within an hour or two," Eskelson said, citing an outage Tuesday morning in Eden, due to the more sensitive setting, but that one was restored within 15 minutes.
"We’ll be taking extra steps to make sure the lines are clear, there’s no obvious problems... We don’t believe there’s cause for alarm in this, but we want customers to know what we’re doing in these areas that are prone to higher fire risk," he added
These enhanced safety settings are further explained on RMP's website, along with an emergency preparedness guide, where families are advised to have enough supplies to go 72 hours without power.
"We’re really focused on restoring power as quickly as possible, but in these fire zones we’re going to have an abundance of caution before we do that."
The company asks that everyone update their contact information with the company so that they can be contacted directly in case of an outage in their area.
You can also find out where there are outages by visiting rockymountainpower.net/outages.
