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Wildfire Safety
Our emergency line is available 24 hours a day.
Montana: 888-467-2669
South Dakota/Nebraska: 800-245-6977
In case of a life-threatening emergency, dial 911.
Preventing wildfires is a group effort
With humans causing more than 85% of wildfires, it’s more important than ever to help prevent wildfires from starting. At NorthWestern Energy, our Vegetation Management team works year-round to clear any trees and bushes that could contact our power lines, start fires, and cause outages. Our Wildfire Mitigation team, along with emergency response agencies, invests in proactive strategies to protect our system, our customers, and our favorite playground: Montana’s forests.
Are you ready for wildfires?
NorthWestern Energy is ready for wildfire season – are you?
Prepare an Emergency Outage Kit
Find a list of items that you should have on hand in case of an emergency outage.
Wildfire Mitigation
NorthWestern Energy has an active wildfire mitigation program that includes hazard tree removal and adding special equipment to our lines to prevent sparks in high-risk areas.
Managing a rural electric system
Managing a rural electric system
The majority of our power lines are in rural or sub-rural areas where there are fewer than 24 customers per mile. In the past decade, we have focused on strengthening our electric system, so it’s less likely spark wildfires. We use extensive data sets to determine which stretches of power lines are highest risk, and then install special equipment in those areas, such as spark arresting technology or switches that clear faults quickly.
Hazard Tree Program
Hazard Tree Program
One way we prevent wildfires is to remove danger and hazard trees – trees that could contact an electric line when they fall. While we have been working for several years to remove hazard trees, it will take several passes to clear Rights of Way to the levels that remove all risk from falling trees. We are proud of what we have accomplished to date, but it is hard to quantify the fires that have been prevented through these efforts.
