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Rocky Mountain Power works to reduce fire risk in Summit County

Rocky Mountain Power's work has already begun in some areas of the county including SR 224.
KPCW
Rocky Mountain Power's work has already begun in some areas of the county including SR 224.

Rocky Mountain Power’s wildfire mitigation project is underway in Park City.

Park City residents may have noticed some downed power poles and construction equipment along highway 224 in recent weeks. It’s part of Rocky Mountain Power’s Wildfire mitigation project.

As extreme weather events become increasingly common, so does the threat of wildfires in Utah. Rocky Mountain Power, the state’s largest electric company, is focusing on preventing and mitigating wildfires, particularly those caused by electric disturbances.

The utility is investing nearly half a billion dollars across its six-state system over the next several years to prevent catastrophic fires like those plaguing other western states.

Rocky Mountain Power spokesperson David Eskelsen said the utility is paying particular attention to those areas where wildfire risk is inherently higher.

“We have areas particularly along the Wasatch Back, that are of higher risk of wildfire,” said Eskelsen. “We have designated areas where we've identified the elevated risk, and we've taken a number of steps to mitigate those changes and hardening our distribution and transmission systems is part of that. The other part is the installation of our own local weather stations, where we can monitor humidity, wind, and other weather factors.”

The mitigation project in Park City focuses on updating transmission and distribution lines from the Snyderville substation, near the Utah Olympic Park, to the substation in downtown Park City.

A Rocky Mountain Power map shows the route the company's wildfire mitigation work will follow.
A Rocky Mountain Power map shows the route the company's wildfire mitigation work will follow.

“In this particular case, we are replacing the previous structures, the previous wood poles with steel. And there are a special kind of steel called Corten,” explained Eskelsen. “They're self-weathering, so they'll turn out kind of rusty brown color over time, and then they don't need any of their maintenance after that.”

In addition to the new power poles, distribution lines – those that carry power to neighborhoods – are being buried underground.

Despite the magnitude of this project, Eskelsen said customers should not notice a break in their service.

“Typically we try to schedule these things so that we de-energize the portion that we're working on, serve it from other directions. That's one of the reasons why we do it, you know, after the peak demand season,” said Eskelsen.” “Because there's an ability for other parts of the system to serve customers while this one is out of service.”

The wildfire mitigation project in Park City isn’t the only one taking place in Utah at the moment. Rocky Mountain power began construction in Big Cottonwood Canyon in May to improve overhead power lines along SR-190. That project also includes upgrading overhead systems as well as burying existing power lines.

Eskelsen said the project in Park City is expected to wrap up in November, and when it’s done, service will be more reliable and safer for everyone.