Balancing reliability, resilience and risk requires intentional planning and partnerships
As wildfire seasons grow longer and more intense, your electric co-op is taking proactive steps to protect our community while keeping the lights on. House Bill 490, passed earlier this year, now requires utilities to formalize and regularly update their wildfire mitigation plans (WMPs). But for Flathead Electric Cooperative, this isn’t new territory—we’ve had a formal WMP in place for over five years and have been actively implementing and improving it ever since.
“What has changed with House Bill 490 and what hasn’t?” reflects Amanda Opp. “We’ve long recognized the importance of wildfire mitigation and have taken a multifaceted approach to reduce risk. This new law simply reinforces the work we’ve already been doing.”
One of the most visible tools in a wildfire response toolkit for some utilities is the Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) – intentionally cutting power during extreme fire conditions. But for your co-op, this is a last resort. Power interruptions can pose serious health and safety risks, especially in rural areas where well pumps rely on electricity. Instead, we focus on hardening our system to prevent ignitions in the first place.
That’s no small task. Flathead Electric maintains vegetation along 1,700 miles of overhead power lines — roughly the distance from Kalispell to Dallas, Texas. Trees are excellent conductors of electricity, and when they fall into power lines, they can spark wildfires. Maintaining clear rights-of-way is critical to reducing that risk.
We’re also investing in best-in-class technology to improve safety and reduce ignition risk. That includes installing advanced equipment in high-risk areas, adjusting sensitivity settings during high-risk conditions to more quickly de-energize portions of our system where a fault occurs, and using satellite imagery to identify and remove hazard trees before they become a problem.
Some of these safety measures can impact reliability. For example, more sensitive settings on a circuit breaker may cause power to shut off more quickly and more often on that portion of line, but it can also prevent a fallen branch sitting on that line from igniting or causing sparks.
As Katie Pfennigs, Community Relations Manager, explains: “At your Co-op, our concern for the communities we serve is our ‘why.’ During wildfire season, it’s possible that we may have more outages on our system – not because something is wrong, but because we’re taking extra precautions to protect lives and property.”
Our wildfire mitigation plan is designed to be flexible. Weather and fire risk can change rapidly in Montana, and our procedures allow us to adapt just as quickly. We maintain constant situational awareness and coordinate closely with partners like the Office of Emergency Services and forest managers to ensure our response is timely and effective.
HB 490 now requires utilities to seek public input and formal approval of their wildfire plans—changes we welcome. These updates will help strengthen our efforts and reduce wildfire risk across Montana.
Learn more about your co-op’s wildfire mitigation efforts, or how you can reduce wildfire risk on your own property.
