Dawson Public Power District adopts wildfire mitigation plan

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) - Dawson Public Power District has adopted a formal wildfire mitigation plan, becoming one of the first rural utilities in Nebraska to do so.

The plan follows a historic wildfire season across the region, including the Cottonwood Fire in Lincoln and Dawson counties. District leaders say the district saw very minimal impact to its system, but several customers suffered significant losses.

CEO Alyssa Clemsen Roberts said work on the plan began about 12 months before it went to the board for approval. She said spring fires did not start the effort, but accelerated it.

“I don’t think the fires in Nebraska caused us to start this. It caused us to speed it up,” she said. “We’ve been watching this happen in the western states now for quite a while.”

The plan uses state and federal data to identify high-risk areas, reviews equipment in the field, and formalizes practices for line patrols. It also outlines how the district communicates with local, county, and state agencies during red flag events — periods of low moisture and high winds when fire danger is highest.

Leaders weighed options ranging from expensive technology to simple policy changes, evaluating what was affordable and would improve grid resiliency.

“We could get into a point where you threw everything you had at something like this and still not improve resiliency,” Clemsen Roberts said.

Clemsen Roberts said the goals are protecting public safety, protecting utility infrastructure, lowering costs, maintaining insurability, and improving reliability and sustainability.

She called the plan a living document. It will be reviewed twice a year internally and presented to the board annually to stay current on technology and best practices.

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