LAKEPORT, Calif. — An incident this week put to the test newly rolled out technology meant to protect the power grid against fire hazards due to vegetation.

On Tuesday at about 1:17 p.m., a tree near Scotts Creek hit a power line that has enhanced powerline safety settings enabled on it, according to Pacific Gas and Electric.

PG&E reported that it recently activated the enhanced powerline safety settings, or EPSS, in high fire threat districts, including parts of Lake County.

EPSS are advanced safety settings and allow PG&E’s powerlines to automatically turn off power within one-tenth of a second.

The company said this power cutoff can happen when there’s a hazard, like a tree branch falling into a powerline, which can cause a fire.

The company started using EPSS settings in 2021 and said they greatly reduced the number of public safety power shut off that PG&E needed to execute.

PG&E found that, in 2022, there was a 68% reduction in ignitions on EPSS-enabled powerlines.

This week’s issue in Lake County caused the EPSS settings to be triggered on one of the distribution lines in the Lakeport area, with about 1,192 customers losing power.

PG&E said its workers were able to report to the scene quickly to start patrols of the line and found a tree on a line. Because the line was deenergized due to the EPSS settings, the tree coming in contact with the lines did not create an immediate safety risk.

Additionally, within an hour, 1,157 customers had their power restored, with the power going back on later for the remaining 35 customers, PG&E said.

When an EPSS setting is triggered, PG&E crews must patrol the entire circuit to ensure no damage or hazards are present. PG&E will use helicopters, when possible, to conduct aerial patrols. Extra crews will be brought in when ground patrols are needed so the patrol can be done safely and as quickly as possible to restore service to our customers.