The fire-safety regulations identified below require a map to designate "high fire-threat areas" where these regulations apply. The interim maps adopted in R.08-11-005 consisted of three surrogate fire-threat maps as follows:
The Reax Map designated high fire-threat areas in Northern California where the below identified regulations applied. With the exception of SDG&E's service territory, the FRAP Map designated high fire-threat areas in Southern California where the previously identified regulations applied. The SDG&E fire-threat map was used for SDG&E's service territory.
CPUC Fire-Threat Map
In 2012, the CPUC ordered the development of a statewide map that is designed specifically for the purpose of identifying areas where there is an increased risk for utility associated wildfires. The development of the CPUC -sponsored fire-threat map, herein "CPUC Fire-Threat Map," started in R.08-11-005 and continued in R.15-05-006.
A multistep process was used to develop the statewide CPUC Fire-Threat Map. The first step was to develop Fire Map 1 (FM 1), an agnostic map which depicts areas of California where there is an elevated hazard for the ignition and rapid spread of powerline fires due to strong winds, abundant dry vegetation, and other environmental conditions. These are the environmental conditions associated with the catastrophic powerline fires that burned 334 square miles of Southern California in October 2007. FM 1 was developed by CAL FIRE and adopted by the CPUC in Decision 16-05-036.
FM 1 served as the foundation for the development of the final CPUC Fire-Threat Map. The CPUC Fire-Threat Map delineates, in part, the boundaries of a new High Fire-Threat District (HFTD) where utility infrastructure and operations will be subject to stricter fire‑safety regulations. Importantly, the CPUC Fire-Threat Map (1) incorporates the fire hazards associated with historical powerline wildfires besides the October 2007 fires in Southern California (e.g., the Butte Fire that burned 71,000 acres in Amador and Calaveras Counties in September 2015), and (2) ranks fire-threat areas based on the risks that utility-associated wildfires pose to people and property.
Primary responsibility for the development of the CPUC Fire-Threat Map was delegated to a group of utility mapping experts known as the Peer Development Panel (PDP), with oversight from a team of independent experts known as the Independent Review Team (IRT). The members of the IRT were selected by CAL FIRE and CAL FIRE served as the Chair of the IRT. The development of CPUC Fire-Threat Map includes input from many stakeholders, including investor-owned and publicly owned electric utilities, communications infrastructure providers, public interest groups, and local public safety agencies.
The PDP served a draft statewide CPUC Fire-Threat Map on July 31, 2017, which was subsequently reviewed by the IRT. On October 2 and October 5, 2017, the PDP filed an Initial CPUC Fire-Threat Map that reflected the results of the IRT's review through September 25, 2017. The final IRT-approved CPUC Fire-Threat Map was filed on November 17, 2017. On November 21, 2017, SED filed on behalf of the IRT a summary report detailing the production of the CPUC Fire-Threat Map (referenced at the time as Fire Map 2). Interested parties were provided opportunity to submit alternate maps, written comments on the IRT-approved map and alternate maps (if any), and motions for Evidentiary Hearings. No motions for Evidentiary Hearings or alternate map proposals were received. As such, on January 19, 2018 the CPUC adopted, via Safety and Enforcement Division's (SED) disposition of a Tier 1 Advice Letter, the final CPUC Fire-Threat Map.
You can access the GIS web viewer here: https://ia.cpuc.ca.gov/firemap/ and click on the magnifying lens icon in the upper right corner to reveal the search bar. From there you can enter addresses and zoom in to a fairly fine scale with street level detail
High Fire-Threat District (HFTD)
In D.17-01-009, as modified by D.17-06-024, the CPUC adopted a work plan for the development and adoption of the CPUC Fire-Threat Map, which constitutes one part of the High Fire-Threat District (HFTD). Pursuant to these decisions, the HFTD is a composite of two maps:
- Tier 1 High Hazard Zones (HHZs) on the U.S. Forest Service-CAL FIRE joint map of Tree Mortality HHZs ("Tree Mortality HHZ Map").
- Tier 2 and Tier 3 fire-threat areas on the CPUC Fire-Threat Map
The Tree Mortality HHZ Map is an off-the-shelf map. Tier 1 HHZs are zones in direct proximity to communities, roads, and utility lines, and are a direct threat to public safety. Tier 2 fire-threat areas depict areas where there is an elevated risk (including likelihood and potential impacts on people and property) from utility associated wildfires. Tier 3 fire-threat areas depict areas where there is an extreme risk (including likelihood and potential impacts on people and property) from utility associated wildfires.
It should be noted that (1) Tier 2 and Tier 3 fire-threat areas on the CPUC Fire-Threat Map may overlap Tier 1 HHZs on the Tree Mortality HHZ Map, (2) the Tree Mortality HHZ Map is not owned or maintained by the CPUC, and (3) the Tree Mortality HHZ Map is updated much more frequently (approximately annually) than the 10-year update cycle adopted by the above-mentioned decisions for the CPUC Fire-Threat Map.
The fire-safety regulations described below apply only to areas designated as "high fire-threat areas" in accordance with the adopted interim maps. Similarly, the HFTD, as described in this section, is intended to depict an analogous area based, in part, upon a mapping product (i.e. CPUC Fire-Threat Map) developed specifically for the purpose of scoping utility regulations.
Fire-Safety Regulations
The fire-safety regulations adopted in R.08-11-005 that relied on the interim maps include:
- GO 95, Rule 18A, which requires electric utilities and communication infrastructure providers (CIPs) to place a high priority on the correction of significant fire hazards in high fire-threat areas of Southern California.
- GO 95, Rules 31.2, 80.1A, and 90.1B, which set the minimum frequency for inspections of aerial communication facilities located in close proximity to power lines in high fire-threat areas throughout California.
- GO 95, Rule 35, Table 1, Case 14, which requires increased radial clearances between bare-line conductors and vegetation in high fire-threat areas of Southern California.
- GO 95, Appendix E, which authorizes increased time-of-trim clearances between bare-line conductors and vegetation in high fire-threat areas of Southern California.
- GO 165, Appendix A, Table 1, which requires more frequent patrol inspections of overhead powerline facilities in rural, high fire-threat areas of Southern California.
- GO 166, Standard 1.E., which requires each electric utility in Southern California to develop and submit a plan to reduce the risk of fire ignitions by overhead facilities in high fire-threat areas during extreme fire-weather events. Electric utilities in Northern California must also develop and submit a plan if they have overhead facilities in high fire-threat areas that are subject to extreme fire-weather events.
The scope of R.15-05-006 included the identification, evaluation, and adoption of additional fire-safety regulations for the High Fire-threat District (HFTD). To this end, a series of public workshops were held by group known as the Fire Safety Technical Panel (FSTP), chaired by the CPUC's Safety and Enforcement Division (SED) and Southern California Edison Company (SCE). On July 10, 2017, the FSTP filed a Workshop Report that contained 23 proposed fire-safety regulations and eight (8) alternatives. Interested parties filed opening comments on July 31, 2017, and reply comments on August 11, 2017. On December 21, 2017, the CPUC issued D.17-12-024, adopting new fire-safety regulations in the HFTD.