WILDFIRE: AN UPDATED LOOK AT UTILITY RISK AND MITIGATION

Wildfires ignited by electric utility infrastructure pose a serious danger to communities across the United States. While the initial causes of the catastrophic fires which destroyed thousands of homes and other structures in the Los Angeles metropolitan area earlier this year remain under investigation, affected homeowners have filed suit against several utilities, arguing that electric infrastructure ignited the fires that went on to burn through their neighborhoods. These fires were unprecedented in the sense that they were among the most devastating wildfires in California history. However, the risk of utility-ignited fires has been widely recognized in California for years, and the state has created a legal and regulatory regime specifically designed to address the risk of wildfires ignited by electric infrastructure. 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. These responses will include wildfire mitigation programs implemented by utilities and overseen by their regulators.