Working to Keep Communities Safe: PG&E Offers Fall Tree-Trimming Safety Tips

By Deanna Contreras

Fall is here! ‘Tis the season for Veteran’s Day, Halloween and Thanksgiving. Many people are also thinking about cleaning up their yards before the weather changes to make room for holiday decorations by trimming bushes and removing dead trees.

PG&E has seen more than 100 incidents where trees or tree limbs have fallen into powerlines by either the homeowner conducting tree work or by the homeowner’s hired tree crew. These incidents are the type of situation that can cause outages and lead to ignitions.

“We are seeing an increase in tree branches coming down onto powerlines during tree work and whether you’re a licensed tree crew, logger, harvest plan owner or landowner, we encourage you to call us before you trim or fell trees near powerlines,” said Andrew Abranches, senior director for PG&E’s Wildfire Risk Management Team.

The phone number to call is (800) 564-5080. Here are additional tips for residential and business customers to practice safe tree trimming and removal.

BEFORE WORKING NEAR POWERLINES:

•  Call PG&E to request a safety evaluation of the area. PG&E will ensure it is safe to fell a tree in that area, either by de-energizing the line or it might be a situation where PG&E will schedule its contractor to do the work.
• It is unlawful to work within 10 feet of a distribution or a transmission line without calling the utility.
• If a tree or limb contacts the power line, stay away and immediately call 911 and then call PG&E. Do not attempt to remove the tree or limb from the line.

PG&E follows all applicable federal and state vegetation clearance requirements by performing regular trimming and removal of approximately along its 100,000 miles of electric lines. That includes inspecting and monitoring every PG&E overhead electric transmission and distribution line each year, with some locations patrolled multiple times.

For information about safely planting and trimming trees, visit www.pge.com/powerlinesafety.