Sacramento, CA… In response to the recent and dramatically increasing wildfire threat in our state, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is accelerating its vegetation management work in Tuolumne and Calaveras Counties to further reduce the risk of wildfire and keep our customers, their families and our communities safe. According to CAL FIRE and the National Interagency Fire Center, in 2018, as of late August, more than 5,500 wildfires have already burned over 1.4 million acres.

The unprecedented, destructive nature of the wildfire risk that California faces this year demands additional steps to further mitigate wildfire threats and keep our customers safe. As a result, we are augmenting our Community Wildfire Safety Program (CWSP) to accelerate our vegetation and safety work and reduce the risk of vegetation coming into contact with power lines.

This wildfire safety work involves creating even greater clearances between trees and power lines, including overhanging branches and limbs, in areas the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has designated as at extreme risk of wildfire.

PG&E was already working to meet new state vegetation and fire safety standards, which require a minimum clearance of 4 feet around power lines in high fire-threat areas with clearances of 12 feet or more at time of trim to ensure compliance year-round.

Our accelerated wildfire vegetation management work addresses overhanging branches or limbs, which have the potential to come into contact with power lines, by ensuring conductor-to-sky 12-foot clearance.

We are also continuing to partner with customers in extreme fire-threat areas to create fire defense zones by reducing vegetation below and near power lines that could act as fuel in a wildfire, as an added layer of protection and to enhance defensible space.

The expectation this work to take place between now and the end of the 2018 wildfire season. Customers can call 877.295.4949 for more information or email wildfiresafety@pge.com

About PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric energy companies in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ and www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.