How SurvalentONE SCADA Supports Wildfire Mitigation Strategies

Summary

Wildfire mitigation is becoming a critical priority for utilities as fire risk increases across many regions. This blog highlights how SCADA systems support faster, more controlled responses during high-risk conditions, helping utilities reduce ignition risk and protect communities. Utilities such as CORE Electric Cooperative and Mountain View Electric Association emphasize that wildfire risk is not only operational but also reputational and financial, requiring a coordinated approach across planning and real-time operations.

SCADA enables real-time visibility, rapid fault isolation, and the ability to execute pre-defined control actions when conditions escalate. It also supports proactive measures such as Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS), which utilities use cautiously as a last resort during extreme fire weather. At the same time, the blog underscores the importance of balancing reliability with risk reduction, as some mitigation actions may lead to temporary outages.

Beyond real-time operations, SCADA systems provide detailed data that helps utilities analyze events, refine procedures, and demonstrate compliance. By leveraging existing capabilities and learning from operational data, utilities can improve response times, strengthen grid resilience, and take more effective steps to manage wildfire risk.

How SurvalentONE SCADA Supports Wildfire Mitigation Strategies

As wildfire threats intensify across North America, electric utilities are under growing pressure to take proactive steps that protect communities, infrastructure, and field crews. While vegetation management and infrastructure upgrades are important, operational technologies like SCADA systems play a critical role in a utility’s wildfire mitigation strategy – especially when every second matters.

During the Strategies for Wildfire Mitigation: Utility Perspectives and Operational Insights session at a recent Survalent User Conference, CORE Electric Cooperative described wildfire as potentially their biggest risk—not only operationally, but also in terms of reputation and financial impact if an ignition were traced back to utility equipment.

Similarly, in the same session, Mountain View Electric Association emphasized the day-to-day operational mindset required:

“It’s about being intentional every day… and being aware of what you’re doing out there on red flag days.”

SurvalentONE SCADA enables utilities to respond with greater speed, precision, and confidence during high-risk fire conditions. Its core capabilities support key mitigation measures such as grid sectionalization, proactive de-energization, and fast fault isolation. These functions help utilities maintain public safety, reduce damage, and comply with evolving regulatory expectations – all while improving operational readiness and resilience.

Act Fast When Conditions Escalate

Wildfire season leaves little room for delay. When fire risk escalates, operators need situational awareness and control tools that allow them to respond without hesitation. SurvalentONE SCADA provides real-time visibility into the distribution network enabling utilities to operate with confidence, dispatching commands, isolating or de-energizing grid sections as needed, and adapting protection or tripping schemes based on weather conditions, or alerts affecting sensitive areas.

SurvalentONE SCADA enables operators to prepare and execute coordinated actions quickly and safely. Operators can define and store custom group commands in advance, ready for fast execution across multiple devices or network sections when conditions demand it. Pre-built switching order templates further support safe and reliable load transfers, helping crews act decisively and consistently under pressure.

Together, configurable group commands and zone-based control streamline field operations, reducing manual effort, minimizing response time, and ensuring critical actions, such as isolating lines ahead of a fire front or managing planned outages during red flag warnings, can be carried out in seconds with confidence.

In practice, utilities are already applying these types of strategies. CORE Electric Cooperative shared that during high-risk conditions, they adjust relay settings to trip faster and reduce ignition risk—even if it impacts reliability:

“We do potentially trade off some level of reliability for risk reduction… but we’re getting better at identifying where the likely location is and restoring power as quickly as possible.”

Enhance Safety Through Greater Control

One of the most effective strategies for mitigating wildfire risk is proactively de-energizing lines in areas with high fuel loads and extreme weather forecasts. Although the decision to shut off power is never taken lightly, the ability to execute these measures quickly and accurately is crucial. SurvalentONE SCADA supports this process through built-in features that ensure safe command execution and accurate device status tracking.

Operators can inhibit remote control of devices by other staff through multi-level tagging, verify end-to-end communication before issuing commands, and monitor alarm states to ensure devices behave as expected. These controls reduce the risk of error and support safe operational procedures, even during dynamic or stressful situations.

Utilities are increasingly using Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) as part of their mitigation strategies. As CORE Electric Cooperative explained, these are used cautiously:

“PSPS… is a last resort tool… you’re making the decision to de-energize lines… and then you have no visibility of what’s going on on the line during that time.”

This underscores the importance of having strong operational control before, during, and after such actions.

Turning Data into Actionable Intelligence

Beyond real-time control, SurvalentONE SCADA captures and archives detailed operational data that utilities can use to review response and mitigation actions during wildfire events. This information supports post-event analysis, documentation of switching sequences and operator decisions, and preparation of regulatory compliance reports. By leveraging the system’s native historian and reporting tools, utilities can demonstrate how decisions were made, what actions were taken, and how those actions aligned with their mitigation plans.

This level of transparency not only improves internal planning and stakeholder engagement – it also helps build trust with regulators and the public by showing that utilities are acting responsibly in the face of wildfire threats.

Utilities are also using operational and field data to better understand ignition risks. CORE Electric Cooperative shared that their ignition tracking program revealed an unexpected trend:

“The most frequent cause of ignitions is animal contact… that was a bit of a surprise for us.”

This insight led them to prioritize mitigation measures like wildlife protection and equipment upgrades—demonstrating how data can directly influence operational strategy.

Making the Most of What You Already Have

For utilities already operating on the SurvalentONE platform, many wildfire-relevant capabilities are already part of the deployed system. Features such as Switch Orders, Guarantees, Group Controls, Automation Scripts, and Alarms with Remote Annunciation can be configured to support rapid and safe operational responses. Complementary tools like Sequence of Events (SOE), Operator Summary, and the integrated Historian provide the visibility and traceability needed for post-event review and regulatory documentation.

Together, these capabilities enable utilities to adapt existing workflows, enhance situational awareness, and strengthen grid resilience, without requiring new infrastructure. It’s just a matter of configuring them to support wildfire scenarios.

Utilities are taking varied approaches depending on their priorities and maturity. For example, Mountain View Electric Association is focusing heavily on vegetation management and equipment upgrades—using satellite imagery and field crews to identify high-risk areas and systematically reduce exposure.

At the same time, they are expanding SCADA capabilities to enable more advanced operational responses in the future.

Mountain View Electric Association summarized their broader approach simply:

“You can only control what you can control… you’re just trying to reduce your risk.”

We can help you identify and apply the right tools for your environment, whether that means setting up device groups in high-risk zones, developing custom command sequences for outage response, or integrating with other mitigation systems. With SurvalentONE ADMS, you don’t need to start from scratch. You just need to start where you are.

Building a Safer, Smarter Grid

Wildfire mitigation is a complex challenge that demands coordination across planning, operations, and field response. SurvalentONE SCADA brings those pieces together by giving utilities the visibility, control, and flexibility they need to manage risk effectively.

As fire seasons grow longer and more intense, the stakes continue to rise. By leveraging the tools already built into your control system, you can strengthen your wildfire mitigation strategy – and ensure you’re prepared to act when it matters most.

Across the industry, utilities are also learning from one another through collaborative forums and shared experiences. Both CORE Electric Cooperative and Mountain View Electric Association highlighted the value of peer collaboration in refining their mitigation strategies and evaluating new technologies. Watch the full webinar to learn more about how CORE Electric Cooperative and Mountain View Electric Association are mitigating wildfire risk.

These shared insights continue to shape how utilities approach wildfire risk—combining operational discipline, technology, and real-world learning.