PG&E expands wildfire prevention, response network with 100th new weather station

The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) reached a milestone this year, installing its 100th new weather station and creating a goal of 200 by the end of the year, expanding its communities’ detection, prevention and response capabilities surrounding wildfires.

Wildfires have proven devastating to the west coast in the past few years, but PG&E’s efforts have targeted high fire-threat areas, from California’s Alameda County to Tuolumne County. Now, the data collected through these new stations will be streamed around the clock to state and local agencies, as well as the public.

“With these new, additional weather stations, PG&E is able to capture additional real-time data related to temperature, wind speeds and humidity levels to provide improved awareness of current fire danger conditions,” Kevin Dasso, PG&E vice president of Electric Asset Management, said. “Our team of meteorologists and wildfire safety experts will use this data to determine any needed actions the company can take to help reduce wildfire risks.”

If these stations detect a combination of extreme fire dangers, low humidity levels, sustained high winds and others — or if PG&E is issued a Red Flag Warning from the National Weather Service, for example — the utility will be able to take the extreme measure of a public safety power shutoff, disabling electric power lines in its service area.