El Paso Electric

UPDATE: Arizona Fires June 11, 2011

Reports today indicate that the Wallow Fire in Arizona is 5 percent contained with containment lines established on the northeast side of the fire.  That is the sector closest to El Paso Electric’s 345 kV Springerville transmission Line. The fire line in the northeast sector has not progressed within the past few days and it continues to be approximately 15 miles away from EPE’s transmission lie.

Winds are expected to increase this weekend.  Fire managers today are planning burnout operations, structure protection, and patrolling for spot fires.

However, because conditions in the area are still critical, El Paso Electric continues to prepare for the possibility of an outage of the transmission line, which would limit EPE’s ability to bring in power from the Palo Verde nuclear plant to its service territory.  El Paso Electric’s preparations include:

• obtaining additional power from other resources;
• securing additional transmission resources;
• preparing local generation to operate at full capacity;
• coordinating with other utilities on actions to take in the event transmission lines are adversely affected; and
• ensuring that equipment, materials and personnel are available to restore and repair damage to the transmission line and return it to operation on a timely basis.

Conditions at the Arizona Wallow Fire are still volatile and according to fire managers, this volatility will continue for an extended period. El Paso Electric continues to monitor the situation and further develop its contingency plans.  Power curtailment/conservation measures, which could include rolling blackouts, remain a possibility.  EPE will continue to provide information on the status of the fire.