Washington State's Chelan PUD reviewed customer feedback following its first public safety power shutoff Watch issued on July 31 for the Chelan and Manson areas of the state and the input will help the PUD make future notifications more useful, it said on Aug. 4.
The watch ended on the morning of Aug. 2 without an outage after updated forecasts showed conditions did not warrant a PSPS.
“This was our first opportunity to use the PSPS alert process, and it gave us valuable experience,” said General Manager Kirk Hudson. “We appreciate customers taking the alert seriously and sharing their feedback. That input will help us make future notifications more useful.”
On July 29, Chelan PUD received early forecasts of the potential for extreme fire weather in the Chelan and Manson area on Aug. 1. Chelan PUD stood up an emergency response team to assess the threat, coordinate with fire districts and emergency management, and prepare to notify customers of a potential PSPS.
“The purpose of a PSPS Watch notification is to give customers time to prepare, even if the forecast is still uncertain,” said Chief Operating Officer Dan Koch.
Chelan PUD noted that it took several proactive measures ahead of the weather event to reduce fire risk:
• The utility increased the sensitivity of powerline operations so that power shuts off immediately when a problem is detected.
• Crews proactively inspected transmission powerlines to ensure they were in good condition.
• The PUD also de-energized a redundant transmission line between Chelan and Manson without impact to customers.
Customers shared a range of perspectives through phone calls, emails and social media. Many customers supported taking proactive steps to reduce wildfire risk. Others raised concerns about how a potential outage could affect private wells, internet, cell service, food refrigeration and home medical equipment.
Chelan PUD will use the feedback to improve how future alerts show the affected area, and steps customers can take to prepare.
“What we’ve learned collectively means we’ll be stronger for next time,” said Commissioner Garry Arseneault.
Chelan PUD has had a wildfire mitigation plan since 2017. The PUD added one of the state’s first PSPS plans in 2021 to the wildfire mitigation plan with input from fire agencies, emergency managers, community organizations and utilities with established programs.
The program expanded county-wide in 2024 to more than 20 PSPS zones. The zones are designated based on potential wildfire risk.
