Enhanced vegetation management work to reduce wildfire risks

• We will be conducting this important safety work across both high and extreme fire-threat areas across our service territory. These areas are defined as at elevated (Tier 2) and extreme (Tier 3) risk of wildfire, based on the California Public Utilities Commission's High Fire-Threat District Map.
• We are working safely and as quickly as possible to complete this important safety work, prioritizing those communities that are at the most extreme risk of wildfire. We will then expand our work to other high fire-threat areas across our service territory.
• This work will cover roughly 25,000 miles of distribution line from Bakersfield to the Oregon border.
• The timing for work in a community will depend on the wildfire risk in that area, what specific work needs to be done, and conversations with customers regarding plans for their property, among other factors.

• PG&E's Enhanced Vegetation Management program involves two important steps to help further reduce the risk of trees coming into contact with power lines in high fire-threat areas. These include:
• Tree crews completing necessary tree pruning work and removing any dead or dying trees.
• The tree pruning work includes meeting state vegetation and fire safety standards and addressing overhanging branches and limbs directly above and around the lines.
• An inspection to evaluate the condition of trees that may need to be addressed if they are tall enough to strike the lines.
• For these trees, we are evaluating the health of the tree as well as looking at how tall the tree is, how close it is to the power line and the likelihood of the tree striking the power line if it were to fall.
• We will remove any trees that we determine pose a safety risk based on these factors.

• In response to the growing wildfire threat, we have expanded and enhanced our vegetation and safety work. This work is one of many additional precautionary measures implemented following the 2017 and 2018 wildfires as part of our comprehensive Community Wildfire Safety Program.
• We will continue to meet important state vegetation and fire safety standards through routine vegetation management work, which require clearances of 4 feet around power lines in high fire-threat areas, with recommended minimum clearances of 12 feet or more at time of prune to ensure compliance year-round.
• When pruning overhanging branches and limbs, we will focus on the area directly above and around the power lines.
• We will continue to remove hazardous vegetation such as dead or dying trees that pose a potential risk to the lines and prune vegetation around lower voltage secondary lines to prevent damage, when needed.
• We will also evaluate the condition of trees that may need to be addressed if they are tall enough to strike the lines.

• As a service to our customers, we chip wood that is less than four inches in diameter and can spread the chips on-site after tree work is complete. However, in remote areas tree crews lop and scatter wood debris in accordance with best practices to avoid excessive vegetation build-up.
• Larger wood debris that is greater than four inches in diameter is left on-site as it legally belongs to the landowner since trees are considered assets and property. However, wood from this enhanced vegetation safety work may be eligible for removal at no direct cost to our customers, provided it is safely accessible and requested by the property owner.
• For all other vegetation management work, larger wood that is greater than four inches in diameter will generally be left on-site, as it is not eligible for removal.
• Customers who would like us to remove the wood debris from this work will receive a Request for Wood Management form at the time of inspection.
• You may also download the Request for Wood Management form (PDF, 108KB).
• Completed forms will need to be returned to the safety inspector or emailed to wildfiresafety@pge.com prior to the tree work beginning.
• Once we receive a signed request form and the tree work is complete, wood debris removal can begin within a few weeks, depending on weather, access or other schedule constraints.

We urge customers to take steps to prepare for wildfires by creating defensible space around their homes. CAL FIRE recommends:

• Creating 100 feet of defensible space by removing all flammable vegetation and any dead or dying plants within 30 feet of your home and having a fuel reduction zone in the remaining 70 feet
• Removing surface litter, such as leaves, pine needles, twigs, bark, cones and pods
• Removing lower tree branches at least six feet from the ground
• Landscaping with fire resistant plants
• Cutting grass down to a maximum height of 4 inches, mowing before 10 a.m. and never on hot or windy days. Consider trimming grass with a string trimmer.

For more information, go to readyforwildfire.org.

For more information on our Enhanced Vegetation Management work, customers can email us at wildfiresafety@pge.com or call 1-877-295-4949. Our dedicated customer outreach specialists will respond within one business day.