Anaheim will have moved all of its city-owned power lines in its highest fire-risk areas underground by 2026, a milestone in the city’s multi-decade effort to harden its utilities and reduce the risk of sparking a wildfire.
For more than three decades, the city has been relocating power lines underground throughout Anaheim. In Anaheim Hills, about 162 miles of power lines run through fire-risk areas, but 98% of those lines are already underground, according to Anaheim Public Utilities’ wildfire mitigation plan.
The last seven segments to be put underground are now under construction, city spokesperson Mike Lyster said. That work began this summer and is expected to be complete by late next year.
“They’re essentially building a new electrical service system,” Lyster said. “They just build it underground.”
Once the underground utilities are built, service is transferred from the overhead poles, Lyster said.
Buried power lines are protected from damage brought by wind or falling trees and are considered one of the best ways to reduce the risk of a utility‑caused wildfire, according to a 2022 California State Audit.
The caveat to Anaheim’s work, though, is that other larger regional transmission lines owned by Southern California Edison still go through the hills, Lyster said, and whether those one day go underground is ultimately up to SCE.
The state has seen several massive wildfires caused by utilities in recent years, including the Camp Fire that destroyed most of Paradise. SCE power lines are also believed to have caused the Eaton fire that burned through Altadena in Janurary.
Moving the utilities underground also reduces the need for future power shutoffs.
The seven segments of powerlines the city is putting underground right now are dotted around the hills, including areas near Deer Canyon, the Oak Canyon Nature Center and a line off of Nohl Ranch Road.
The city began its underground conversion program in 1990. The goal is to put 240 miles of overhead power lines underground by 2040. So far, the city has completed 140 miles, or 58%.
A 4% surcharge on utility bills has funded the program. The city spends about $15 million a year moving power lines underground.
The entire 1.5-mile stretch of Beach Boulevard that runs through Anaheim is also getting its power lines put underground right now, along with other segments located throughout the city. On Beach Boulevard, the city touts that removing the overhead power lines not only helps reliability, but also improves the visual streetscape.
Anaheim Hills is largely newer homes, so much of the area already has underground utilities. The area’s last two major fires, the Freeway Complex and Canyon 2 fires, were not caused by utilities.
A 2022 state audit found that California has almost 40,000 miles of bare power lines in high-fire threat areas. Around 10,000 of those miles are owned by SCE.
Lyster said the city is constantly evaluating if any remaining overhead power lines should be put underground in the hills area. That includes responding to any changes that come from the fire hazard severity zone maps Cal Fire puts out. A new batch were released earlier this year.
“So you could always see a shift in a map that could prompt us to look at any remaining poles that we may have out there,” Lyster said, “that aren’t in a high-risk area today, but thinking may evolve, conditions may change. So, we’re always evaluating what remains.”