Fires spark underground power line discussions
By David R. Baker, San Francisco Chronicle
Underground power lines don’t sway in the wind. Tree branches blown sideways by a gale can’t hit them. They don’t sit on wooden poles that can fall down.
They would, in other words, seem to be an ideal way to prevent wildfires in a place like California, which has a history of big blazes sparked by overhead power lines tangling with trees. Investigators are now trying to determine whether that combination triggered the wildfires that tore through the Wine Country this month.
Unfortunately, underground power lines are also very expensive.
It is expensive to put power lines underground, but it is also expensive to repair above-ground power lines in the parts of our country subject to hurricanes and extreme storms.
Here, closer to home, it is my observation that, in Tahoe Keys, where we have lived full-time for 16 years, we have far fewer and shorter power outages than other parts of the South Shore.
It is also my understanding that a downed power line set off the Emerald fire.