New Report Again Cites PG&E One of Top Western Utilities for Wildfire Readiness

PG&E’s wildfire safety efforts once again have been recognized for exemplifying the highest level of preparedness in a new report by the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. The report analyzed the increased risk that wildfires pose to citizens and communities, and the preparedness efforts that utilities across the United States are taking in response. 

The just-released report, “Wildfire: An Expanded Look at Utility Risk and Mitigation,” cited the need for utilities to address the rising risk of wildfires due to many factors, including climate change, historical fire suppression practices and increasing home construction in locations where wildfires are likely to occur, the so-called wildland-urban interface or WUI. 

With a comprehensive wildfire safety plan in place, bolstered by continued investments in safety and innovation, PG&E was identified as being among the nation’s most advanced utilities in wildfire preparedness planning and readiness. Conversely, utilities in states like Florida and Kansas were rated as having the lowest readiness with no Wildfire Mitigation Plans and no Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) plans. 

 The report follows up and expands upon a report released in 2024 by the Climate & Energy Policy Program at Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment. While the initial report focuses on utilities in the Western United States, the 2025 update expands that to also include utilities in the upper Midwest and Southeastern states. 

California ready, elsewhere not so much

Wildfire risk is omnipresent in California and state regulators have governance in place to respond to fires, the report’s authors note. However, “in other regions across the United States, the situation is very different: states which have historically faced low catastrophic wildfire risk have seen their exposure to wildfires dramatically increase in recent years, creating an urgent need for new responses.” 

Among its key findings were the need for utilities to thoroughly assess the wildfire risk they face, develop comprehensive safety plans and communicate with key stakeholders, all areas where PG&E has focused heavily over the past several years. PG&E’s Wildfire Mitigation Plan maturity was assessed as Tier 1, the most mature tier in the assessment. 

The study’s authors, including Michael Wara, director of Stanford’s Climate and Energy Policy Program and a Senior Research Scholar with the Wood Institute, note that the increasing risk from wildfires comes at a time when the electric utility industry is seeing unprecedent growth due to the energy needed for data centers and electric vehicles. “An approach to wildfire mitigation which reduces the likelihood of electric infrastructure igniting catastrophic fires is key not only to protecting the safety of homes and communities threatened by fires, but also to the future development of the energy system,” they wrote. 

PG&E agrees on the critical importance of wildfire mitigation and prevention, including undergrounding thousands of miles of powerlines in high fire-risk areas which nearly eliminates risk and is cheaper in the long run versus maintenance and vegetation work on overhead lines. 

“PG&E has made significant and verifiable progress in mitigating wildfire risk, and we appreciate the acknowledgement from the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, but our safety work is never finished,” said Mark Quinlan, senior vice president of Wildfire, Emergency & Operations. “PG&E will continue to focus on preventing wildfires to help keep the communities we serve safe.” 

PG&E: No major wildfires in 2023 and 2024

PG&E continues to invest in multiple layers of protection that have reduced wildfire risk significantly, including no major fires from company equipment in 2023 and 2024. This work includes:   

• Undergrounding thousands of miles of powerlines, the largest undergrounding effort in the U.S. as a wildfire risk-reduction measure. Since the program’s launch, PG&E has constructed and energized more than 900 miles of underground powerlines and is on track to complete more than 1,600 total miles of undergrounding through 2026. 
• Strengthening the electric system with strong poles and covered powerlines in and near high fire-risk areas. 
• Decreasing ignitions and providing wildfire protection to 44,000 line miles and 2 million customers living in high fire-risk and buffer areas through Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS). In 2024, there was a 65% reduction in CPUC-reportable ignitions on EPSS-enabled lines in High Fire-Threat Districts (compared to the 2018-2020 average). 
• Reducing the impact of Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS), which remains a top focus for PG&E. 
• Managing trees and other vegetation located near powerlines that could cause a power outage or ignition. 
• Using a network of over 1,600 weather stations to better predict and respond to severe weather threats. 
• Installing 600 total high-definition cameras, enabling PG&E to see more than 90% of the high fire-risk areas it serves. 

 While PG&E has made incredible progress, safety work is never finished. PG&E will continue to focus on preventing wildfires to help keep the communities it serves safe.