SANTA ROSA -The Wildfire Safety Advisory Board (WSAB) today, during its regularly scheduled business meeting, adopted advisory opinions and a new schedule for Wildfire Mitigation Plan (WMP) submissions. The advisory opinions and submission schedule provide guidance for California’s publicly owned utilities (POU) and electrical cooperatives to follow in the development of their WMPs. Adoption of the advisory opinions and submission schedule followed incorporation of public comment.
The Board reviews WMPs submitted by the POUs and electrical cooperatives and provides comments and advisory opinions to improve wildfire mitigation efforts. The Board also serves as a forum for the public to provide input on wildfire safety activities.
Each year, WSAB focuses its advisory opinions on areas of importance for the WMPs of the state’s 51 publicly owned utilities and electrical cooperatives. Risk identification and preemptive de-energization are the focus areas for the 2025 advisory opinions. Identifying and prioritizing wildfire risk is the foundation for reducing that risk. Preemptive de-energization is an important tool that utilities may employ to reduce wildfire risk. Preemptive de-energization plans can help utilities make decisions and reduce the impacts of a de-energization.
The Board also adopted a new schedule for POUs and electrical cooperatives to follow in submitting their WMPs. Under a new law, POUs and electrical cooperatives must submit plans at least once every four years, on a schedule determined by the Board. The new schedule sets forth considerations for differences in reporting frequency, rotating submissions, and opportunities for early collaborative exchanges for WMP submissions from 2026 to 2029.
More information can be found on the Board’s Publicly Owned Utilities docket log.