In the past, “wildfire prevention” brought memories of summer camping trips and seeing Smokey Bear warning signs posted throughout national parks. Today though, wildfire risk isn’t just a concern for mountain ranges and heavily forested areas. It is a real threat to our region, including our home here on the plains.
The warmer temperatures, prolonged drought, and high winds that we’ve experienced lately create dangerous conditions for fires to ignite. Today, more than 30 states face elevated wildfire risk. As we recognize National Wildfire Awareness Month in May, I wanted to share the year round efforts that Morgan County REA is making to protect our members and the communities we serve.
Our service territory encompasses 3,500 square miles, reaching parts of six counties. Using resources from the Colorado State Forest Service to identify high risk areas, MCREA implements a wide array of proactive measures to reduce wildfire risk. We have carefully planned how we build and maintain our system to support this goal.
One way we do this is through routine tree trimming and vegetation management. Throughout the year, MCREA and our trusted local contractors proactively trim and remove vegetation that has grown too close to our power lines and equipment.
Frequent inspections are another important piece of the puzzle. Every year, MCREA’s contractors inspect thousands of poles throughout our service area. This helps us identify and replace any old, weak poles before they cause issues. Our crews also patrol miles and miles of power lines on a regular basis, identifying and fixing any problems they find.
MCREA deploys many resources to reduce wildfire risk across our territory and if Mother Nature raises the stakes — so do we. When areas of our system experience Red Flag Warnings, we activate our risk mitigation protocols.
This includes disabling some automated features that would normally help restore power quickly after an interference with our lines. Under RMPs, outages can be longer and more frequent, as we won’t re energize lines until our crews have physically inspected those areas for damages.
In addition to these enhanced sensitivity settings for our system, our team also monitors local emergency communications. In case of a fire or other emergency that requires power to be shut off for first responders’ safety, staying informed allows us to dispatch linemen as fast as possible to those locations.
These are just a few parts of MCREA’s wildfire mitigation plan. Wildfire prevention is an evolving mission, and our team is constantly evaluating how we can strengthen our system and further reduce risk. I encourage our members to learn more about our efforts by visiting mcrea.org/wildfire-mitigation-plan.
At Morgan County REA, we take this responsibility seriously. Our members depend on us not only for reliable power, but for leadership in safeguarding the communities we call home.
Dave Frick is the general manager of Morgan County Rural Electric Association, a rural electric distribution cooperative based in Fort Morgan, Colorado.
