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I work for PG&E and if you have some trees that are dead near power lines please call the number below. I have also included the message from Kevin Dasso, VP of Electric Asset Management. Super awesome to help in such a critical state we are in.
Customers should report dead or dying trees near power lines and PG&E will remove them for free. They can do this by calling (800) PGE-5000. Employees can help customers learn more by directing them to http://www.pge.com/treesanddrought. Together, we can prevent and prepare for wildfires.
We hear it every day. Safety is our No. 1 priority. It couldn’t be truer today, given the growing tree mortality epidemic in our state. In June, the U.S. Forest Service announced it has identified 66 million dead trees in California since 2010, due to four consecutive years of severe drought and a dramatic rise in bark beetle infestation. This historic tree die-off is fueling significant wildfire and other public safety risks in communities where many of us live and work.
The state is acting and so are we
The Governor issued State of Emergency declarations for drought in 2014 and tree mortality in 2015. Additionally, the Governor created a Task Force on Tree Mortality, in which we are actively participating. The California Public Utilities Commission directed utilities to take all practicable measures necessary to reduce wildfire risk. Following these actions, we initiated a robust response plan.
PG&E’s Drought Emergency Response Plan
Our Vegetation Management department is going above and beyond to address hazard trees that might threaten our infrastructure and public safety. Our actions include:
Conducting additional supplementary (second) patrols of our power lines in high fire-risk areas—these are in addition to our annual, routine patrols and are designed to help prevent tree contact—on a total of nearly 54,000 miles of lines in fire-prone areas
Exploring new ways to use advanced technology to inspect and identify potentially hazardous trees
Funding daily aerial fire patrols to assist local and state fire agencies with early fire detection and response
Providing $9 million (since 2014) in grants to local California Fire Safe Councils for shovel-ready prevention projects in high fire-risk counties throughout our service area
Partnering with CAL FIRE on public messaging to inform and educate our customers and the publicRecently, we also launched an expanded debris management program to support customers in 10 counties severely impacted by the tree mortality emergency. Customers can request our assistance in hauling away larger woody debris from their property at no cost to them.
What you can do
All of this work is critical to reducing wildfire risk and protecting the public, and we all have to take an active role in protecting our families, homes and communities.
PG&E contractor did that. I assume they plan on taking them down and hauling them away. It’s my understanding that PG&E can no longer leave the wood because it just propagates the infestation.
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