Assessing wildfires hazards around the electric grid

Abstract

Ignition of wildfires are triggered by human errors, lightning, or sparking generated by power lines touching vegetation which require a continuous hazard assessment around the electric grid. Infrared signatures from satellites (MODIS, VIIRS and GOES) can identify, in real time, the location, and the spatial and temporal extent of fires. We present a data and physical model driven framework, called PAIRS ++, to assess the hazard of the dynamic wildfire events on the electric grid which accounts for terrain, available fuel, vegetation type, and weather. Since power lines are extended over very large geographies and span different vegetation and weather conditions, the frameworks continuously process massive amounts of data that drives the physical and the hazard models. Using the satellite observations of wildfire events, spread rate, and intensity combined with physics-based wildfire spread models, the framework enables continuous assessment of wildfire hazards on the electric grid by calculating the minimum distance between wildfire location and power lines and enables operational decisions to control part of the electric grid under extreme conditions.