Wildfire Risk Mitigation Technical Conference

Docket No. AD25-16-000  

Tuesday, October 21, 2025 | 1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.  

On June 12, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14308 (Executive Order) that calls for the federal government to empower state and local leaders through “streamlining Federal wildfire capabilities to improve their effectiveness and promoting commonsense, technology-enabled local strategies for land management and wildfire response and mitigation.”[1]  Section 4(d) of the Executive Order directed the Commission with the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Energy to “consider initiating rulemaking proceedings to establish, as consistent with applicable law, best practices to reduce the risk of wildfire ignition from the bulk-power system without increasing costs for electric-power end users, including through methods such as vegetation management, the removal of forest hazardous fuels along transmission lines, improved engineering approaches, and safer operational practices.”[2]

The Commission has considered the need for a rulemaking; however, to ensure any actions the Commission takes are timely and do not increase costs for electric-power end users, the Commission found it appropriate to take two concurrent actions.  First, in a separate proceeding, the Commission directed the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), as the Commission-certified electric reliability organization (ERO), to conduct an assessment of wildfire risks and best practices in mitigating those risks on the Bulk-Power System and incorporate those findings into wildfire guidance as such information is “necessary to implement section 215 of the Federal Power Act [(FPA)].”[3]   Second, the Commission scheduled this technical conference to solicit input from relevant subject matter experts on the topics outlined in the Executive Order, the agenda for which is below.

1:30 p.m. | Opening Remarks and Introductions  

1:40 p.m. | Panel 1: Grid-Focused Best Practices for Wildfires

One of the primary challenges of wildfire mitigation is that various entities have responsibility for various portions of mitigation and response to wildfires, potentially creating an uneven set of requirements across contiguous landscapes and even single transmission lines.  While NERC has not developed Reliability Standards specifically aimed at wildfire risk mitigation, some Reliability Standards—such as FAC-003-4 (Transmission Vegetation Management) and FAC-008-5 (Facility Ratings)—already play an important role in reducing wildfire risks.  In July 2025, NERC issued a voluntary reference guide, which identifies common best practices that can be considered in real-time operations and used to assist utility operating personnel during and in advance of future events.[4]  And regionally, the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) has established, and the Commission has approved, Regional Reliability Standard FAC-501-WECC-4 (Transmission Maintenance), which requires transmission owners registered in the WECC region to maintain and inspect their major WECC transfer paths.  WECC’s wildfire advisory group also published a comprehensive report describing best practices on wildfire mitigation.[5]  Finally, several states have passed legislation to address the risk of wildfire ignition from the electric grid, including but not limited to the majority of western states.[6]

This panel will focus on interagency coordination challenges and best practices and may include a discussion of the following topics and questions: 

Agency Coordination

1. What are the Bulk-Power System-related causes of wildfires?  How often is the Bulk-Power System the cause of wildfires and what steps can federal agencies, states, and utilities take to reduce the incidence?  How often is the distribution system, or other electrical equipment, the cause of wildfire? 
2. Discuss the best practices and successful strategies that utilities and federal and state regulators have adopted to mitigate and manage this threat.  What can federal and state regulators do to further promote more effective and/or additional mitigation measures?  What role should federal, state, and local regulators play in setting wildfire mitigation requirements?
3. Are there areas for better coordination between federal agencies, between federal agencies and states, and/or federal agencies and utilities?  What role can the Commission and other agencies play in preventing wildfire ignition from the Bulk-Power System or in mitigating the effects of such wildfires? 
4. What role should federal regulators play in resolving wildfire vegetation clearance requirements conflicts when multiple agencies have overlapping jurisdiction, e.g., when a transmission corridor crosses federal, state, and/or tribal lands?  Discuss existing Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) or other agreements among government agencies that address vegetation management.  How can federal agencies (FERC, Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of the Interior) avoid duplicating or contradicting each entity’s roles in wildfire-prone corridors?   

Grid Operation

5. What voluntary best practices can be established to reduce the risk of wildfire ignition from the Bulk-Power System?  How effective have Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) programs been in reducing wildfire ignition risks?  What are the biggest operational challenges in balancing wildfire prevention with reliability?  Are there ways to make PSPS events shorter, more targeted, and easier to reverse?  How can utilities use operational experiences and/or modeling and simulations to anticipate PSPS impacts, optimize thresholds for initiating PSPS, and minimize customer disruption?  Are there limitations to the PSPS actions due to public safety, economic, and national security impacts and how can they be addressed?  Are PSPS actions now the new “normal” for operations or are these actions temporary until longer-term solutions are implemented?
6. Once a wildfire ignites, what operational measures do utilities take to mitigate the effects of the wildfire on electric service?  Do federal and state assistance or emergency mitigation plans address such operational measures?  What additional assistance can federal or state agencies provide?  What voluntary best practices can be established to reduce the risk of wildfires impacting the reliable and secure operation of the Bulk-Power System?
7. How does the use of technological solutions, including, but not limited to, dynamic line rating sensors, advanced weather forecasting systems and predictive artificial intelligence (AI) for vegetation management, conform with existing Reliability Standards?  Are any modifications or additions needed to improve wildfire mitigation, or to ensure that responsible entities can fully employ a particular technology?  Are there other changes to laws or Commission policies that are needed to facilitate the deployment of technological solutions?

Grid Design and Hardening

8. How do transmission planning processes and/or Reliability Standards address strategies to mitigate the risk posed by wildfires to Bulk-Power System reliability?  Are there opportunities to improve the consideration of contingencies caused by wildfire hazards in the transmission planning processes?
9. As power system planners assess the risk exposure of their grid to power line-induced wildfires, what factors are assessed when allocating resources to risk mitigation strategies?  How do utilities prioritize investments in high-risk zones versus broader systemwide risks?
10. As utilities replace equipment (i.e., power lines, poles, or other electric equipment) can they take steps to harden grid equipment against and fire ignition and growing power outage risks?  What grid-hardening strategies (e.g., fire-resistant structures, undergrounding, insulated conductors, microgrids) have shown the best cost-benefit results?
11. What grid design efforts are utilities taking to address wildfire risk, such as prioritizing components and configurations that directly reduce ignition potential while maintaining grid reliability?

Confirmed Speakers:

• Catherine Jereza, Senior Advisor, Undersecretary of Energy, U.S. Department of Energy
• Kristen Sleeper, Deputy Undersecretary for Natural Resources and the Environment, U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Bradley Shoemaker, Fuels & Post-Fire Specialist, Office of Wildland Fire, U.S. Department of the Interior
• Branden Sudduth, Vice President, Reliability Planning & Performance Analysis, Western Electricity Coordinating Council
• Letha Tawney, Chair, Oregon Public Utility Commission (also representing the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners)
• Clif Lange, General Manager, South Texas Electric Cooperative (also representing the National Rural Electric Utilities Cooperative)

3:00 p.m. | Break

3:10 p.m. | Panel 2: Leveraging Technology to Monitor, Evaluate, and Mitigate Wildfire Risks

Wildfire mitigation planning is crucial for utilities to ensure the reliability of electricity supply, reduce risks and associated costs, and enhance public safety.  Protecting the grid from wildfires involves employing tools and innovative technical solutions like Dynamic Line Rating sensors for wildfire monitoring and response.  The leading utilities in this space are adopting technologies such as predictive AI models to anticipate common wildfire ignition sources such as vegetation contact, conductor clashing, and equipment failure.  While traditional strategies include covered conductor systems, fire-retardant components, and spacer cable configurations that enable tighter phase spacing, this panel will focus on advanced technologies to improve protection from wildfires.

This panel may include a discussion of the following topics and questions:  

Technological Solutions

1. The use of wildfire detection and monitoring systems, such as cameras, sensors and satellites can be effective tools in combating wildfires.  How can utilities most effectively integrate satellite imagery, high-resolution cameras, and sensor networks into a unified wildfire detection system?
2. How are utilities deploying advanced sensors, reclosers, and isolation devices to de-energize circuits more quickly during fire conditions?  How can grid technologies be further optimized to reroute power dynamically during wildfire emergencies without compromising reliability?
3. How is technology, such as drones, light detection and ranging (LiDAR), AI and predictive analytics, being used for fire prevention.  What can be improved and what new technology is needed?  What operational and technical  limitations exist today, and how can these challenges be addressed? 
4. Better wildfire modeling and planning tools can reduce the probability of wildfire ignition from the Bulk-Power System.  How are utilities applying tools, such as AI, to forecast wildfire ignition and spread? What metrics demonstrate measurable improvements?  What significant data gaps remain in predictive wildfire models, and what’s being done to close these gaps?
5. What benchmarks should be used to measure the effectiveness of technology-assisted vegetation management compared with traditional practices?

Data Accessibility, Use, and Security

6. How are utilities securely sharing wildfire monitoring data with regulators, responders, and communities?
7. What are the most pressing cybersecurity risks linked to internet of things (IoT) sensors, drones, and cloud-based predictive platforms, and how are they being mitigated?

Costs, Cost Recovery, and Incentives

8. What are the relative costs and level of effectiveness of wildfire best practices currently employed?  How can regulators achieve enhanced wildfire mitigation through low-cost solutions? 
9. What metrics should be used to measure the effectiveness of utility investments in wildfire risk reduction?  For example, the California Public Utility Commission has developed metrics grouped by vegetation management effectiveness, grid hardening progress and the implementation of new wildfire safety technologies and the reduction of both utility-caused ignitions and the potential consequences of a risk event.[7]  Are there opportunities to replicate these metrics more broadly?

Confirmed Speakers:

• Mark Quinlan, Sr. Vice President, Wildfire and Emergency Operations, Pacific Gas and Electric Company
• Randy Howard, General Manager, Northern California Power Agency and Co-Chair, Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council Wildfire Working Group (also representing American Public Power Assoc.)
• Dr. Karim Al-Khafaji, Head of Business Development, Overstory
• Dr. Ali Arabnya, Director and Head of Power/Utilities Risk Management Practice, Quanta Technologies
• Sucheta Lakhani, Head of Utilities Practice, North America, Pano AI
• Brita Formato, President, Heimdall Power (also representing the WATT Coalition)

4:25 p.m. | Closing Comments