BC Hydro works overtime to prevent trees from causing power outages

With unprecedented extreme weather overwhelming B.C., Hydro crews are working to clear trees that pose a threat to power lines.

Susie Rieder with BC Hydro says the crown corporation has stepped up their vegetation program, meaning they clear branches that could potentially fall onto power lines, causing outages.

“We have more trees per kilometer of power line than most utilities in North America, so trees cause many outages.” Rieder says.

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She also adds, to combat the outages caused by trees, the vegetation program will continue to monitor tree overgrowth near lines.

“We are looking for weak vegetation that could potentially cause power outages and making adjustments to clear some of that vegetation.”

Rieder says BC Hydro has “all hands on deck” and crews are on standby to respond to storms and power outages.

Considering the intense winter B.C. has faced so far, it does not come as a surprise the utility company is working overtime.

“I would say just anecdotally, this has seemed like a very challenging year for outages, storms, and extreme weather.”

– With files from Robyn Crawford