Utilities warn of potential power shutoffs

AltaLink and FortisAlberta tell council public safety power shutoffs remain a last resort, but communities need to be ready

Crowsnest Pass residents could face planned power shutoffs in extreme wildfire conditions under a growing safety strategy outlined to council Tuesday night by AltaLink and FortisAlberta.

Representatives from both utilities appeared before council to explain their wildfire mitigation programs, including the potential use of public safety power shutoffs, known as PSPS, during periods of severe fire danger.

Cody Webster, stakeholder relations manager with FortisAlberta, said the approach is built around preventing utility infrastructure from contributing to catastrophic wildfires as conditions across Alberta continue to worsen.

“Wildfires are becoming larger and more severe,” Webster said. “As wildfires increase in intensity, and frequency, protecting communities that we serve, and providing safe, affordable, and reliable power is our priority.”

Webster said less than 10 per cent of fires in Alberta are started by electricity infrastructure, but both utilities are investing heavily in prevention and monitoring.

AltaLink municipal and community relations manager Colin Hardy said the two companies use a layered approach, starting with risk mapping and infrastructure upgrades before ever considering a shutdown.

“Both companies have worked with a third-party wildfire expert to map out our system to identify areas that are considered high-risk fire areas,” Hardy said.

He said utilities are reducing risk in those areas by replacing wood cross arms with steel or fibreglass, improving insulators, increasing inspections and installing weather stations and cameras in areas where public weather data is limited.

The final stage in that system is the public safety power shutoff, a proactive outage used only when extreme weather conditions suggest a fire could spread quickly if infrastructure became involved.

“That is a last resort preventative measure,” Hardy said. “The last thing we want to do is turn the power off.”

Hardy said the decision would not be made lightly and the threshold for a shutoff is high. In the Crowsnest Pass area, both utilities said they would generally be looking for a fire weather index above 60 combined with wind gusts above 60 kilometres an hour.

Those factors, they stressed, would need to happen together.

“We may have high winds, but the fire weather index isn’t there, so we wouldn’t be working with PSPS,” Hardy said.

FortisAlberta said the local impact area for one of its own shutoffs would be west of 127 Street in Blairmore through to the B.C. border. Webster said if AltaLink were to shut off supply at the transmission level, a much larger area east of Blairmore could also be affected.

“We have worked with administration on outlining where the key sites are in the municipality,” Webster said. “Our re-energization plans do include, you know, the hospital, pump locations, and what is key to the municipality and what should get on first.”

The utilities said they aim to give municipal administration about 72 hours notice at the watch stage if a shutoff appears possible. Public notices would generally follow 24 to 48 hours before an actual event if conditions still support the decision.

Webster also urged residents to make sure their contact information is current with their electricity retailer so outage notices can reach them.

“If someone’s cell phone number or home number is no longer up to date, they will be missing out on those notifications,” he said.

Councillors asked how often such shutoffs have been used. Webster said FortisAlberta launched its PSPS program last April and has not yet had to use it.

“When we look back at the last 10 years, there was no weather that would have matched up to enact with PSPS,” he said.

Hardy said AltaLink is in a similar position, having used reactive de energization during nearby fire events but never a local proactive shutoff under the full PSPS model.

“We anticipate it not happening frequently,” he said.

Council also asked about vegetation management and equipment failures. Webster said FortisAlberta is increasingly using technology such as early fault detection systems and drones to identify problems before they cause outages or fires.

He said utility crews in Crowsnest Pass are also regularly working on meters, upgrades and system maintenance even though there is no permanent FortisAlberta office based in the municipality itself.

The presentation comes as wildfire season approaches and public concern remains high across southern Alberta. Both utilities said they want to keep working with municipalities and the public so that if an extreme event ever forces a shutoff, residents are not caught off guard.