Kittitas County Community Events Calendar
Community Open House – PSE’s Wildfire Plan
April 30 @ 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
PSE Wildfire Plan Open House, Tuesday, April 30, Stop in anytime between 4:30-6:30 p.m. as there is no formal presentation, Upper Kittitas County Senior Center, 719 E. Third, Cle Elum. In advance of wildfire season, PSE wants to share prevention efforts and help you prepare for the upcoming wildfire season. This is a follow-up to the Town Halls conducted in 2022, showing how public feedback has been incorporated into PSE’s Wildfire Mitigation Program and learn how you can prepare if there’s a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) – a mitigation tool of last resort. Free and open to the public. Learn more at pse.com/wildfire
Wildfire season officially starts June 1 and drought conditions are already forecasted, along with predictions of a warmer than usual summer. Because of this, PSE has been reaching
out to customers, informing them how the 2024 wildfire season will look much different compared to previous years.
This year customers may experience three different types of power outages:
Enabling Enhanced Powerline Settings (EPS): When fire risk conditions are elevated, PSE may use these settings to make our power lines more sensitive to potential hazards and automatically
turn power off to reduce the risk of a fire starting. These outages are unplanned, like those that occur during a storm, and could last several hours.
Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS): During extreme fire risk weather conditions, PSE may proactively turn off selected power lines to reduce the risk of wildfire. Customers will receive
notifications before a PSPS, but we will only restore power after the weather has passed, the lines are inspected, and any repairs are made. These outages could last several days if damaging winds occur.
Reactive De-energization: PSE turns off power lines at the request of emergency officials during an active wildfire. These outages vary in length and are dependent on the fire.
Customers should be aware and prepared – we will only restore power when it is safe to do so.
As we prepare for wildfire season, we are mindful that a change in reliability can be inconvenient, and we want to help our customers be aware and prepared.
