Wildfire Mitigation Data Systems (WMDS) for Western Interconnection

This project, which started as a summer internship with the Western Interstate Energy Board and has continued with the Bill Lane Center, is focused on creating a Western Interconnection-wide Wildfire Mitigation Data System (WMDS). The project proposes that data on ignition events and probable ignition events be collected from electric utilities throughout the Western Interconnection and subsequently aggregated into a regional data system. The goal is to reduce the occurrences of utility-caused wildfires throughout the West by sharing best practices for wildfire mitigation based upon a systematic analysis of the compiled data. The research lays out the motivation and framework for a WMDS, lists the specific data that would be collected, and suggests methodologies for capturing that data.

View the researchers' 2021 policy proposal for creating a WMDS here.

A recording of the August 2020 webinar delivered to the Western Interstate Energy Board (WIEB) members can be found here.