While California plans to shut off power to 900,000 customers to avoid a possible devastating forest fires, Tucson Electric Power is staying the course.
That means TEP won’t do anything different than it does for any fire season.
California experienced some of its most damaging forest fires last year, especially the Camp Fire which did an estimated $16.4 billion in damage and claimed 86 lives.
That fire in Northern California was started by a utility, Pacific Gas and Electric. It’s also accused of starting other, smaller fires.
The utility has been accused of not keeping its equipment maintained and vegetation cut nearby.
The voluntary shut down, which could last several days, is hoped to keep the deteriorating weather conditions from fanning the flames if a fire accidentally gets ignited.
While the situation is different in Tucson, TEP is acutely aware of how easy a fire can get out of hand.