SCE's New Tool Determines How Susceptible Vegetation is to Wildfires
SCE's New Tool Determines How Susceptible Vegetation is to Wildfires
After significant rain and snow in California this year, there are concerns that when the lush green vegetation and beautiful flowers across mountains and along hillsides dry out, the region could become a tinderbox.
“Much of the vegetation is saturated now and will be slow to dry out, but a significant grass crop has developed throughout the region this spring, which may lead to more roadside ignitions this summer,” said Tom Rolinski, Southern California Edison’s fire scientist. “Fire activity typically increases in May but will likely be delayed until June or even July this year.”
Rolinski is part of the fire science team that has been working to refine and improve the fire potential forecast across SCE’s service area. The fire science program is described in SCE’s recently filed 2023-2025 Wildfire Mitigation Plan.

Last year, the fire science team developed a Fuels Index which comprehensively analyzes the moisture content in vegetation to determine how vulnerable plants are to wildfires several days ahead, like a weather forecast.
“We know that when the Fuels Index reaches high levels, there is a greater chance of having a significant fire,” Rolinski said. “It provides a forecast up to seven days ahead of time and takes into account historical weather and significant fires that occurred within SCE’s 50,000-square-mile service area, so we are able to see if vegetation moisture levels are abnormally high or low.”
For the first time this year, the SCE team started using the new Fuels Index regularly to help assess the wildfire threat across high fire risk areas.

The fire science team also analyzes the moisture content from plant samples that are physically collected from 14 locations to determine if those specific areas are vulnerable to a wildfire.
“We highly encourage everyone to always have outage and evacuation plans in place, especially for those living in high fire risk areas,” Rolinski said. “As temperatures rise and we move closer to the fall when the Santa Ana winds start, it’s critical to know what to do ahead of time if a fire starts in your community or if there is an outage.”
SCE has reduced the probability of wildfires associated with its equipment by 75%-80% since 2018. The ongoing wildfire mitigation work has also allowed the company to reduce Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) in high fire risk areas and will further reduce the need to conduct these proactive power shutoffs in the future with continued grid hardening investments.
For more information on SCE’s ongoing wildfire mitigation efforts, visit edison.com/wildfire-safety.