Property owners across BC advised to plant safely as spring season occurs
KELOWNA — As spring season begins to take full effect, FortisBC is asking property owners and landscapers to plant trees and other vegetation away from power lines and natural gas pipelines.
According to FortisBC, 25 per cent of outages on their electrical system are due to trees falling on power lines from storms or root disease. Growing trees and other vegetation under power lines and over gas lines pose a threat to public safety and can cause service outages.
“When a storm hits, the vast majority of power outages are from trees falling on our power lines,” Director of FortisBC Ferenc Pataki said in a statement. “That’s why property owners have such an important role to play in keeping their property and community safe. It starts with planning their landscapes carefully to avoid potential interference with utility lines as their trees and other plants mature.”
In addition, FortisBC says they have over 15 crew members throughout the province working on trimming trees and clearing any other vegetation away from their power lines, pipelines and other FortisBC utility infrastructure.
