Spring Weather Requires Extra Safety Precautions

Spring storms and seasonal weather fluctuations can disrupt your plans and daily routines. They sometimes affect the operations of an electric cooperative, too. Warm temperatures, dry conditions and high winds can increase the risk of fire danger. During these periods, Victory Electric must take extra precautions to safeguard the community and our electrical infrastructure.

Victory Electric employees monitor weather conditions and have multiple safety processes in place. Our tree trimming team removes tree branches and limbs to keep them away from power lines and prevent faults. Lineworkers and other technicians regularly inspect power lines and use smart grid technology to monitor the electrical system so they can prevent problems and address outages promptly. Crews remain ready to implement enhanced safety measures, such as adjusting system settings to address potential hazards that may be caused by volatile weather. 

A recloser is an automated, high-voltage electric switch used throughout a power distribution system that is similar to your home’s circuit breaker. When an electrical issue in your home trips your circuit breaker and interrupts power, you must manually reset the breaker on your electrical panel to bring power back to the affected circuit.

Unlike your home’s circuit breaker, however, reclosers are “multi-shot” devices. This means they can operate a certain number of times before they stay open and result in an outage. Victory Electric typically sets reclosers for multi-shot operation. If a tree limb or other obstruction contacts the power lines and creates a fault, the recloser senses it and opens, creating a blink in power. 

In multi-shot operation, the recloser pauses briefly, then recloses to try and complete the circuit. If the fault is still there, it opens again and creates another blink. If the fault remains after a third attempt, the recloser will stay open. The affected cooperative members will then experience a power outage until the fault is resolved by line workers.

When our area faces sustained winds of 50 miles per hour or more and extreme fire danger, Victory Electric can set its system for non-reclose, or one-shot, operation. This means the recloser will try to clear a fault in the power line only once. The one-shot setting may result in more outages for rural cooperative members than the usual multi-shot operation, but this important precaution helps prevent lines from sparking.

Victory Electric appreciates our cooperative members’ patience and understanding on the occasions when this important safety measure is necessary. We understand that outages can be frustrating, but doing everything we can to help mitigate the risk of wildfires is worth the effort.