Xcel's AI cameras were a big win this summer, but what is the company doing to prevent the start of wildfires in the first place?
Artificial intelligence camera software caught the early stages of the Quarry Fire in southern Jefferson County, Xcel Energy officials tell CBS News Colorado, which potentially gave first responders helpful information about the growth and direction of the blaze at a time when every second counts.
"The Pano cameras picked up the smoke at 10:30 at night, it immediately set out the alert to our first responders, and because they've been busy fighting it, we haven't had the opportunity yet to debrief with them, but I anticipate it helped them get a head start and right size that response," said Anne Sherwood, vice president of wildfire mitigation with Xcel.
Catching early stages of the Quarry Fire is yet another example in recent months of the cameras' value, Sherwood said.
The cameras also caught the Bear Creek Fire earlier this summer, and as Your Reporter Spencer Wilson reported recently, they also helped spot a fire starting at a campsite in Breckenridge.
Sherwood says her company has installed 42 AI cameras, and the company has requested 93 more to implement in more high-risk wildfire areas across Colorado to give firefighters a leg up on response.
"We're doing what needs to be done to fight this risk," Sherwood said. "This risk has evolved so much."
She says the cameras are critical, because the amount of high-risk wildfire zones within Xcel's umbrella has doubled in the last four years.
"We can reduce the consequences of these fires and hopefully avoid them from turning into massive, catastrophic wildfires," Sherwood said. "135 cameras will ensure 100% coverage of all of our highest risk tiers for wildfire, so that will help first responders all over the state get that same head start."
The cameras cost $18 million, and it's a cost customers will be expected to pay.
"It's part of safely and reliably providing electricity," Sherwood explained. "The benefits that we're seeing already and the benefits that we'll get as we continue to expand the network of cameras that value, you can't put a dollar amount on it."
But as Your Reporter Alan Gionet reported last month, Xcel released its detailed wildfire mitigation plan to much displeasure from some consumer advocates.
"What's interesting is wildfire mitigation is part and parcel of the normal business operations of a utility. It's part of the basis for them being granted a monopoly," said Joseph Pereira, deputy director of the Colorado Office of Utility Consumer Advocate.
If customers are being asked to pay for their own protection, CBS News Colorado wanted to know what measures are in place to prevent powerline-caused wildfires, because according to federal data, electricity ignitions of wildfires are not uncommon.
U.S. Forest Service data shows over the last 30 years, 22,260 wildfires have ignited in the U.S. due to power lines.
Sherwood says vegetation mitigation is a big part of their plan. See Xcel's Wildfire Mitigation plan, by clicking here.
"We're also using artificial intelligence to help us identify dead or dying trees so we can more surgically remove those," Sherwood said. "We then also will inspect and repair and replace poles and rebuild lines that are aging due just to infrastructure... we have tens of thousands of poles on our system, and so in order to engage in the work we need to do to protect the public safety, there's a lot of different programs."
But a study from the Energy Institute at Haas, just released this year, found burying power lines is a more cost-effective method in the long run to reduce wildfire ignitions than trimming trees.
Sherwood says Xcel does have plans to use federal matching funds to put 50 miles of power lines underground, but that work could take up to two years to complete, and she's not sure which neighborhoods will have their lines buried.
"Right now we're in the initial design and engineering phase, which is why I can't pinpoint exactly where we're going to do it, because we don't know that it's feasible in certain areas," Sherwood said. "So, we have to go through all of that design engineering, and then we begin the construction process."
Another big concern, energy industry sources tell CBS News Colorado, is a potential problem of overcharged lines from unused energy, often unused renewable energy like solar power, interacting with an outdated grid, and potentially combining to create dangerous sparks.
Sherwood says she's not aware of that problem, but plans to speak with other energy company colleagues in other states to learn more.
She says she and energy leaders from Oregon, California, and other states meet monthly to discuss best practices and lessons learned – a partnership which she says helped inspire the idea of acquiring the Pano AI wildfire cameras in Colorado in the first place.
