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Hearing updates from the National Weather Service (NWS), Arizona Public Service (APS) and staff from Coconino County Emergency Management and the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, the Coconino County Board of Supervisors took a look at the area's readiness for the upcoming fire season.

The presentation at the end of the board's Tuesday, Feb. 25, meeting provided an overview of the current environmental conditions, mitigation efforts from APS and other details on the county’s preparations for possible evacuations. Led by Tim Carter, Coconino County’s interim director of emergency management, the presentation spanned nearly two hours as the county looked to get ahead of what could be a significant wildland fire season.

“It’s a very real hazard that we face here in the county with our wildfire season coming up,� Carter said to the board. “Unfortunately, what we know is that wildfire is no longer a season, it is year-round.�

Noting that the six-person department of emergency management can’t manage county wildfire preparedness on its own, Carter said the department’s partnerships with federal, state and local jurisdictions, as well as private entities, lead to year-round efforts by everyone involved.

Though representatives from the U.S. Forest Service were not able to attend the presentation, District 1 Supervisor and board Vice Chair Patrice Horstman said the county meets with the agency monthly and has been in “ongoing communication� as they partner on fire mitigation and preparedness.

While reminding the public that the county does not control fire restrictions for national forest land and that the county specifically only makes decisions for the unincorporated lands of Coconino County, Carter said conversations on restrictions begin with coordination calls between “all of our regional, federal, state and local partners� based on NWS reports detailing the environmental conditions in the forecast.

Although those conversations typically begin near the end of March or the start of April, conditions throughout the region led to them starting up those talks in the middle of February.

APS mitigation

Detailing the fire mitigation plan that has been in development for a decade, APS fire mitigation manager Wade Ward highlighted efforts that have been made over the years to assist with fire prevention, monitoring fires as they begin and alleviating the impact as fires burn.

“The generation, transmission and distribution of electricity is inherently dangerous, but I think we would all agree that the system we do have is incredibly safe,� Ward said. “The ability to walk under a power line and to use the electricity that we do in our homes is very safe and efficient, but we have to take further steps given the conditions that we have.�

After highlighting that APS has been adding non-expulsion fuses in elevated fire conditions and mesh around utility poles to keep them from burning in fires, Ward specifically focused on the company’s expansion of its public safety power shutoff (PSPS) and the data collection that goes into the decision-making process.

Expanding its footprint of remote automatic weather stations to more than 100 located on its utility poles across the state by May 1, APS will also have around 100 pan-tilt-zoom cameras to monitor weather and oncoming fire. Another 13 artificial intelligence cameras are also spread around the state at high-level positions to identify smoke in the area. According to Ward, one of the smoke detection cameras is located on Mount Elden, another in Munds Park and one at the Sedona airport, with the expectation of 15 more to be added this year, including in Williams.

Access to the information provided by the cameras is available to multiple federal, state and local agencies in an effort to detect fires as early as possible.

Ward said they have been able to pick up fires from a single camera more than 25 miles away and that APS has the capability to move the camera and “zoom to 30 times.� In some areas, cameras may overlap in view -- which allows them to triangulate the fire and provide a latitude and longitude.

“I tell them in the onboarding process that you’re not going to get a bill after a year that says you viewed it a thousand times,� Ward said. “This is a partnership from APS to our stakeholders to better detect these fires early on.�

Most notable in the presentation by APS is the expansion of the PSPS system.

“It’s not something that we want to do,� Ward said. “We do understand that’s an inconvenience, but we also understand there are conditions that we are presented with in our environment that with the potential for extreme conditions, particularly wind and low relative humidity, makes sense to have this tool in our toolbox.�

Intending to prevent power lines or electrical systems from starting a wildfire during extreme fire conditions, the PSPS system is planned to be used in a “very limited capacity� in high fire-risk areas.

In the most ideal situation, Ward said, forecasts would allow for APS to inform customers four days ahead of time the intention to shut down power, but he recognized that there may be times when something comes up more suddenly and “we’re not going to take the risk of not doing it just because we don’t have four days.�

Janet Dean, senior public affairs manager for the northeast division of APS, detailed the areas that could be impacted. When the program began last year, Dean said, it started small with 13 feeder lines and areas beyond Flagstaff, such as the Lake Mary area, Mormon Lake and Fort Valley.

An expansion to 65 feeder lines in northern Arizona could bring impacts to areas within the City of Flagstaff, with Mars Hill and Mount Elden noted as areas of concern.

“We are trying to be as surgical and as precise as we can so that we turn off power where we have safety concerns and we try to limit who is impacted based on those safety concerns,� Dean said. “But the way our lines run, sometimes there will be impacts for customers who may not be right in the area of concern.�

Dean added that a more interactive map of the areas that could be further impacted this summer will soon be added to the APS website, allowing for customers to see specific properties and search the addresses that will be impacted, and mailings to customers on lines that might see PSPS impacts.

County preparedness

County staff closed the presentation by offering details on what the community can do to prepare for the fire season now, where to check for fire restrictions in the multitude of jurisdictions across the county and how assistance may be available for those who could be impacted by power outages or evacuations.

Most importantly, Carter wanted to convey to the public that people should be signed up for the county’s notification system -- which will assist APS with informing the public of potential shutoffs. The notification system will also allow for members of the public to detail to the county that they would be in specific need of power for medical devices or if they are unable to cool their homes in the summer without electricity, allowing for them to be directed to locations that can provide assistance.

For those in the county’s notification system, they would receive targeted alerts based on their address regarding possible outages, evacuation plans or where shelters may be open.

As a part of the county’s evacuation zone plan, Carter encouraged county residents to become familiar with the name of their zones as the emergency notifications will rely less on the coordinates of streets or Forest Service roads, and instead .

Similarly, details on restrictions for any of the lands within Coconino County’s boundaries, even those not governed by the county itself, can be found at .

Due to the close proximity of different jurisdictions all throughout the county, Carter said most agencies try to begin restrictions in a coordinated manner in order to make it less confusing for law enforcement and the communities.

Reinforcing the county’s “Ready, Set, Go� system, Carter said residents should remember that there could just be minutes between when a set alert is sent out and when a go order follows for the same area.

“For me, set stage means you take your stuff that you are going to evacuate with, you take it out of the hall closet and put it by the front door or put it in the car,� Carter said. “Because when we issue the 'Go' notice, it is time to go. It’s not time to start packing then.�

Carter also explained that residents should consider preparing an evacuation kit and that the county is working with the City of Flagstaff’s Sustainability Office, resilience hubs in the city, the Market of Dreams and the Murdoch Center in order to provide evacuation kits through grants.

Coconino County Sheriff Bret Axlund expanded on the county’s evacuation plans, explaining his office takes direction from the county’s firefighting partners as “they’re going to be the experts in how a fire acts, where it goes, how fast it goes.�

Echoing Carter’s point that evacuation orders from set to go can change within minutes, Axlund said the county learned more about its capabilities in covering an extended evacuation area during the Tunnel Fire. Needing to call in additional sheriff’s deputies from Mohave, Navajo and Yavapai counties, Axlund said additional county departments also assisted with shutting down roads. Though a person cannot be arrested for choosing to stay in an area under an evacuation order, they cannot be allowed back until the order is lifted if they decide to evacuate initially.

Axlund said the sheriff’s office also works with the county’s fire partners in deciding when to allow residents to return, adding that once the public is back in their homes, they will not leave again should a reentry order be rescinded.

As fire experts work to ensure there’s a zero chance of danger to communities, Axlund said, the office is aware of people’s insistence in returning as soon as possible.

“We have to realize that our folks need to get back into their homes, so we have to take that into consideration when we allow reentry,� Axlund said. “There’s been several times where we’ve had to do a lot of quick talking with our fire partners to be able to agree that it is safe enough to let our folks back in.�

The complete presentation can be found on the .