Central Oregon Pacific Power customers advised of wildfire ‘safety settings’ that could bring more, longer outages

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Pacific Power customers in areas of Bend, Redmond, Madras and Prineville have been placed on the utility's "enhanced safety setting," cutting the risk of wildfires but possibly meaning more - and longer - outages.

Customers in the affected areas received a notice Tuesday of the step being taken "due to elevated wildfire risk in your area."

They were told the new settings and protective devices on Pacific Power equipment "will automatically de-energize power lines when debris, wildlife or strong winds contact the lines."

There won't be notices of specific outages, due to the nature of the system and settings, but "it will shut off automatically if something contacts the line, for the safety of customers and communities."

Here's a page with more information about the settings from Pacific Power and below, view a video about the enhanced safety settings: