I appreciate most of the points you provided and have an additional perspective on item 8 regarding tree trimming in wet areas.
Not all tree trimming is to prevent fires. High winds, such as those experienced in the Seattle metro area in November, can cause considerable damage. Trimming is performed because trees develop to withstand normal winds, but branches will detach during annual large wind events, and 20-year storms will knock over some trees.
Do you think changing rainfall patterns also contribute? I've heard that patterns are tending toward more feast/famine rainy seasons such that the extreme dryness that contributed to these fires will be more common, as opposed to consistent rains every year.
Great points, would just take a slight issue with # 8. Fire risk is part of the reason PG&E trims along lines. But the main reason is simply to reduce the chance that a limb takes out a conductor. They have high risk fire maps of the state and prune to a greater or lesser minimum clearance accordingly. It's not clear to me exactly what you mean by 'thin trees on the power line for our property' But again, PG&E references state-of-the-art fire risk maps and geospatial data to determine where and how to prune/ thin different landscapes.
So I absolutely agree that California needs to get more serious about fire prevention, and there are many things entailed by this. However, PG&E thinning around their lines in a mature conifer forest does not strike me as part of the problem.
I appreciate most of the points you provided and have an additional perspective on item 8 regarding tree trimming in wet areas.
Not all tree trimming is to prevent fires. High winds, such as those experienced in the Seattle metro area in November, can cause considerable damage. Trimming is performed because trees develop to withstand normal winds, but branches will detach during annual large wind events, and 20-year storms will knock over some trees.
Do you think changing rainfall patterns also contribute? I've heard that patterns are tending toward more feast/famine rainy seasons such that the extreme dryness that contributed to these fires will be more common, as opposed to consistent rains every year.
Thanks for the great information
Great points, would just take a slight issue with # 8. Fire risk is part of the reason PG&E trims along lines. But the main reason is simply to reduce the chance that a limb takes out a conductor. They have high risk fire maps of the state and prune to a greater or lesser minimum clearance accordingly. It's not clear to me exactly what you mean by 'thin trees on the power line for our property' But again, PG&E references state-of-the-art fire risk maps and geospatial data to determine where and how to prune/ thin different landscapes.
Finally, I will also add that while indeed the risk is lower in coastal forests with regular fog that rarely experience katabatic winds, that land can still burn. https://osfm.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/community-wildfire-preparedness-and-mitigation/fire-hazard-severity-zones
So I absolutely agree that California needs to get more serious about fire prevention, and there are many things entailed by this. However, PG&E thinning around their lines in a mature conifer forest does not strike me as part of the problem.