A new project involving the American Public Power Association, a group of APPA members and the Argonne National Laboratory focused on wildfire risk mitigation kicked off with its first meeting on April 18.
This project, in collaboration with the Argonne National Laboratory and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Deployment Office (GDO), supports APPA’s goal of assisting utilities in building resilience against the increasing wildfire risk.
“This initiative is an example of how APPA and its member utilities work collaboratively with our federal government partners to proactively address a wide range of issues facing the power sector – in this case, the growing threat to reliability from wildfires,” said Scott Corwin, President and CEO of APPA.
Through an application process, APPA has selected 11 utilities with existing expertise in wildfire risk mitigation.
The aim of this project is to help public power utilities enhance their wildfire risk mitigation strategies, utilize existing tools provided by the DOE, and develop additional resources, particularly for those utilities that are just beginning their wildfire risk mitigation planning.
This is a two-year project involving 11 utilities, with five participating in the first year and six in the second year.
The six public power utilities participating in the first cohort are:
• Austin Energy, TX
• Salt River Project, AZ
• Snohomish PUD, WA
• Eugene Water & Electric Board, OR
• Placer County Water Agency, CA
“This is an incredible opportunity for EWEB to gain insights from other utilities about this complex topic. Through this project, we can make our wildfire mitigation plan more mature via cutting-edge tools and third-party expertise,” said Jeannine Parisi, EWEB strategic program manager.
“Austin Energy is honored to be selected as a participant in the inaugural cohort of the APPA Wildfire Risk Project, collaborating with Argonne National Laboratory to enhance risk mitigation strategies for public power utilities,” said Austin Energy Wildfire Mitigation Manager Chris Vetromile. “We value the opportunity to leverage advanced, data-driven risk management and planning toolkits to strengthen our approach."
“SRP is pleased to be part of this effort to collaborate with other utilities on wildfire mitigation,” said Mark Parker, SRP Senior Manager of Transmission System Asset Maintenance. “This topic continues to be important and we look forward to sharing and hearing lessons learned about the work we are doing to help protect our communities.”
“PUD staff are excited to join the cohort. Our participation will allow us to leverage access and learn from industry subject matter experts, refine our processes and tools used to mitigate the threat of wildfire, and increase collaboration with our APPA peer utilities,” said Aaron Swaney, spokesperson for Snohomish County PUD.
The second cohort of APPA members participating in the project will participate from October 2025 through September 2026 and are:
• Loveland Water & Power Company, CO
• Truckee Donner PUD, CA
• Electrical District No. 3, AZ
• Seattle City Light, WA
• Western Area Power Administration, CO.
Also participating in the second cohort is Colorado-based CORE Electric Cooperative, a rural cooperative.
Through APPA’s partnership with Argonne, utilities will have access to a specialized tool designed to measure wildfire risk in their regions. This project will enable them to quantify and assess wildfire risk effectively.
