Wildfire Safety Operations in Utilities | Esri

 Wildfires are increasingly becoming a frightening reality in many regions, posing serious threats to property, human lives, and wildlife. As extreme weather events and climate change continue to escalate, the risk of wildfires to electrical transmission and distribution assets is expected to rise.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) play a crucial role in providing location-based analytics that help utilities prepare for, respond to, and recover from wildfires. By integrating various sensor technologies and analytics with GIS, utilities can create a robust fire-fighting framework. A key aspect of this system is the sharing of information obtained through standardized protocols and both terrestrial and satellite technologies. Additionally, GIS facilitates information processing for decision support through reporting maps and forecasting.

Understanding the Impact of Wildfires

Major forest fire incidents pose a significant risk to regions of natural beauty, with the potential for irreversible damage. The severity and extent of these fires can have profound effects on nearby populations and ecosystems. Power companies, in particular, are highly vulnerable to this threat, as evidenced by recent wildfire incidents in California, Texas, Australia, and beyond. Since wildfires can be linked to power lines, utilities often face considerable liability risks. As the complexity of designing, operating, and maintaining the electric grid increases, utilities must also tackle the challenges of wildfire risk mitigation. This paper discusses a GIS-based solution designed and implemented for a major utility company, which helped to substantially reduce its costs and liability exposures.

Utilizing GIS Technology for Wildfire Management

Effective wildfire protection requires local, state, and federal agencies to respond rapidly. Safeguarding lives, property, and natural resources involves comprehensive planning, mitigation, coordination, response, and recovery efforts.

Modern GIS technology offers extensive capabilities that support all facets of wildland fire management. GIS solutions empower wildfire professionals to handle complex operations by providing critical tools that enhance their mission effectiveness.

Key features of GIS solutions employed by utility companies include:

• Monitoring fire incidents in near real-time.
• Identifying areas at risk for intense fire behavior.
• Pre-determining tactics and strategies for fire response.
• Establishing situational awareness through a GIS-based common operating picture.
• Producing essential maps and analyses to support fire suppression efforts.
• Predicting fire spread over specific timeframes.
• Assessing fire damage to develop rehabilitation plans.
• Keeping the public informed about changing conditions, including road closures and threatened areas.

By combining IoT data with operational data from utilities, external agency information, and social media data, geospatial analytics can reveal hidden patterns and relationships. This approach leads to more effective outcomes, which can be used in spatial data processing, predictive analytics, and simulation capabilities to assess wildfire risks and other weather-related events. The analytics results can be visualized through applications, dashboards, web APIs, and interfaces, assisting organizational users, customers, and public services in managing wildfire safety operations effectively.