Thanks for the info about burying lines. They’ve done the shutting off power for fire danger for some years. When the RH is very low, no rain for months, and then high winds, they shut it down in places with those conditions. First time in OR though. Usually fall rain starts mid-Sept to mid-Oct, but only a tiny but so far, very late. In areas with loads of dry fuels, it actually does make sense, but it would make a lot more sense to maintain the National and state forests better but enviros don’t want that. They know how to maintain forestland to minimize fire spread. They just don’t do it.
I guess it’s a location kind of thing. Other than a few years ago (the year that Gatlinburg burned), we haven’t had the extremely dry conditions to warrant shutting off power. Maybe in small localized areas, but I’m on the transmission side so that wouldn’t be something that I’d be privy to (unless it were my house being shut off).