Three Lines of Defense for Wildfire Resilience in Electric Power Infrastructure

Wildfires have become the Achilles' heel of modern power infrastructure prone to this emerging hazard despite significant investments made in resilience building measures during recent years. The power grid infrastructure can be affected by, and contribute to, wildfires. A deep defense strategy consisting of three lines of defense can be adopted to effectively manage the risk of wildfires in electric power infrastructure. The first line of defense focuses on strategies to prevent wildfires from occurring in the first place. Recognizing that the first line of defense may not always hold, the second line of defense is focused on mitigation strategies and proactive response, should a wildfire spark. Finally, if a wildfire sparks and spreads despite all the defensive measures in the first two lines, we need a third line of defense that is focused on resilience-building measures and recovery preparedness so the system can bounce back to its pre-wildfire condition as quickly as possible without suffering devastating losses. This panel will explore solutions from different perspectives including a) power and utilities industry, b) forest management and environmental stewardship, c) engineering research and development, and d) energy economics and policy.