ATLANTA—Wildfires have long threatened electric cooperative communities in the West, but the danger is spreading east and co-ops throughout the country need to be prepared, wildfire experts told co-op leaders at PowerXchange and TechAdvantage.

“The threat is growing, and it's not just a Western issue," said Megan Olmstead, NRECA regulatory affairs director. “This is a national issue. Wildfire is an existential threat to co-ops."

Recent fires in New York, New Jersey, South Carolina and Arkansas underscore the point as dry conditions and strong winds fuel blazes in states that are less accustomed to large wildfires.

It is important, Olmstead said, for cooperatives to create a wildfire mitigation plan and then follow it. Plans typically detail vegetation management and grid hardening processes that can help make a system more wildfire resistant.

She said it's also helpful for cooperatives to create processes in advance for public safety power shutoffs during high-risk weather conditions, and to communicate those processes to their members. She suggested that cooperatives coordinate early and often with federal, state and local stakeholders on regional wildfire preparedness and planning efforts.

Insurance rates are going up for co-ops and other utilities along with the frequency and severity of wildfires, said Corey Parr, vice president of safety and loss prevention at Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange.

Losses from wildfires cost the U.S. insurance industry about $1 billion a year from 2012 to 2016 but have been averaging about $12 billion a year since then, Parr said.

“We've tried to be out front with mitigation efforts," he said.

Although there have been high-profile news reports about electric utility lines sparking fires in California and elsewhere, only 1.3% of fires in the U.S. are caused by power lines, said Christopher Lautenberger, president and CEO of CloudFire Inc., a California-based company that develops wildfire risk models.

“Although we hear a lot about it in the news, it's actually a relatively small percentage of the total fire causes," he said.

In wildfire-prone California, that percentage is slightly higher, with 2% of fires resulting from power lines, Lautenberger said. However, 40% of California's 20 most destructive fires were sparked by power lines, he said.

“Power lines were overrepresented in larger-loss fires in the state," he said, adding that dry conditions and wind gusts in excess of 80 mph were the prime factors in those disasters.

“Targeted grid hardening or surgical public safety power shutoffs can significantly reduce risk," he said.

CloudFire is working with NRECA and will ultimately provide all NRECA members with access to PyreCast, a fire forecasting tool, Lautenberger said. Users can see where active fires will likely spread and where new fires may break out.