Episode 1: Grid Resilience & Safety — Caroline Thomas Jacobs, California Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety

This is the first of a six-part series recorded live at the Grid Resilience Summit, a half-day industry event organised by LiveEO. Hosts Nick Ferguson and Steve Cieslewicz hand over to moderator Patrick Hollenbeck for a keynote and Q&A with Caroline Thomas Jacobs, Director of California's Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety — known as Energy Safety.

Caroline has appeared on the UVM Podcast before: she was the very first guest when the show launched. Her return here marks another milestone — this is the UVM Podcast's inaugural video episode after four years of audio-only production since 2021.

About Energy Safety
Energy Safety was created in 2020 in direct response to the catastrophic utility-caused wildfires of 2017 and 2018, which killed over 100 people and destroyed more than 25,000 structures. Its core mission: review and approve annual Wildfire Mitigation Plans submitted by California's electric utilities, oversee their implementation through audits and field inspections, and drive the cultural change inside utilities needed to truly integrate fire risk into how they build, operate, and maintain the grid.

Crucially, Energy Safety was designed not to be a traditional penalty-based regulator. The focus is on continuous improvement and learning — holding utilities accountable to developing new capabilities, not just meeting minimum standards.

What's working
Five years in, the data is encouraging. Total ignitions in California's High Fire Threat Districts in 2024 were down 18% on the seven-year average, and down 34% compared to 2020. Utilities have invested billions in grid hardening — covered conductor, undergrounding, remote sensing devices — and have deployed satellite imagery, LIDAR, and AI-driven risk modelling to transform how they manage vegetation and assess asset condition. A mandatory performance metrics regime means utilities must now demonstrate that their mitigations are reducing risk, not just describe what they're doing.

As Caroline puts it: utilities were never going to cut their way out of the wildfire problem. They had to innovate their way out.

Landscape-scale coordination
California's Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force — created by Governor Newsom in 2021 — is aligning federal, state, local, tribal, and private organisations around shared forest health goals. It has invested nearly $6 billion and now treats over 700,000 acres annually. Energy Safety leads the development of a Utility Wildfire Resilience Partnership Program, modelled on a successful collaboration between Liberty Utilities, the US Forest Service, and the Tahoe Conservancy in the Lake Tahoe basin, designed to amplify the impact of utility corridor investments through landscape-scale coordination.

The challenge ahead
The January 2025 LA fires are a sobering reminder that the wildfire threat is not receding — climate conditions once considered extreme are now the norm. Building California's clean energy future (targeting 100% clean electricity by 2045) on ageing, wildfire-prone infrastructure is not sustainable. Caroline is clear that urgency, equity, and cross-agency coordination are all essential — the communities facing the greatest wildfire risk are too often the ones with the least access to backup power and recovery resources.

In the Q&A, Caroline addresses whether California's separated regulatory model can be replicated in other states (political will, not financing, is the key enabler), how the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force is structured to actually get things done, and the role of the Wildfire Safety Advisory Board in advising both Energy Safety and California's 50 publicly owned utilities.

🎙 Hosted by Nick Ferguson & Steve Cieslewicz
📍 Recorded at the LiveEO Grid Resilience Summit
📺 Part 1 of 6

Subscribe for the remaining five sessions — covering grid modernisation, storm resilience, wildfire technology, and more.

Got a topic suggestion? Email us: podcast@utilityvegetationmanagement.com

View this episode with video on YouTube https://youtu.be/rXjTjcAmNYYhttps://youtu.be/rXjTjcAmNYY.

A big thanks to LiveEO (www.live-eo.com) for organizing the summit.

In this episode of The UVM Podcast, hosts Nick Ferguson and Stephen Cieslewicz are joined by Jim Kubrak, Senior Technical Advisor at The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and a key author of the newly released draft report, Reducing the Risk of Wildfire Ignition by the Bulk Power System. Together, they explore how wildfire risk is rapidly evolving from a regional concern into a continent-wide reliability issue for the electric grid.

Jim shares insights into NERC’s growing focus on wildfire as a critical reliability threat, highlighting data that shows increasing outage impacts and significantly longer restoration times compared to other severe weather events. The conversation dives into what prompted the report, namely a FERC directive following a Presidential Executive Order, and why its findings could be as transformative as past regulatory milestones like FAC-003.

A major focus of the discussion is how vegetation management must adapt. Key recommendations include expanding FAC-003 applicability down to 100 kV lines, increasing vegetation treatment frequency in high fire risk areas, and extending management practices beyond traditional rights-of-way. The episode also explores the role of advanced technologies. such as satellite data, LiDAR, AI, and weather modeling, in enabling more proactive, risk-based decision-making.

Jim emphasizes the importance of collaboration, data standardization, and stakeholder engagement as the industry moves toward implementation. He also underscores the opportunity for utilities to align Wildfire Mitigation Plans (WMPs) with Transmission Vegetation Management Programs (TVMPs) to create a more holistic approach to wildfire prevention.

With a public comment period closing on March 27th 2026 and standards development on the horizon, this episode is a must-listen for utility professionals seeking to understand, and influence, the future of wildfire risk mitigation on the bulk power system.

A big thank you to this episode’s sponsors, Jack McCabe, Ali Kulick, Darik Warnke, and the entire team at Davey Resource Group, Inc., without whose support this episode wouldn’t have been possible.

The draft report from NERC can be found here.

Materials from the NERC Workshop held in January 2026 can be found here.

In this episode of The UVM Podcast, hosts Stephen R. Cieslewicz and Nick Ferguson, sit down with Sara Sankowich (Vice President Shared Services and Sustainability - Unitil ) and Randy Miller (Director of Research and Development- Eocene) from the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point to discuss the Professional Utility Vegetation Management (Pro-UVM) Program and what it means for the future of our industry.

Sara and Randy explain how the program was created to bridge the gap between traditional forestry education and the realities of utility vegetation management — reliability pressure, wildfire risk, regulatory scrutiny, and public accountability.

The conversation breaks down:

• Foundations and Advanced Certificates
• The Professional UVM Credential pathway
• Course format, time commitment, grading, and CEU eligibility
• Who the program is built for — utilities, contractors, consultants, and regulators
• How the credential can strengthen hiring, advancement, and program credibility

The episode also highlights recent efforts at UW–Stevens Point to further institutionalize UVM, including exploration of establishing a full-time faculty position dedicated specifically to leading and expanding Utility Vegetation Management efforts at the university — a clear signal that UVM is evolving into a recognized professional discipline.

Steve and Nick push the larger question:

What does it truly mean to professionalize UVM — and will structured education help move the industry from reactive cycle management toward risk-based, proactive strategies?

Whether you are entering the field or leading a large vegetation program, this episode offers a practical look at how education and credentials may shape the next generation of UVM leadership.

Sponsors

This episode of The UVM Podcast is made possible by our commercial sponsors:

Celerity Utility Solutions
Clear Path Utility Solutions LLC

We appreciate their continued support of industry education and conversation.

In this episode of The UVM Podcast, hosts Steve Cieslewicz and Nick Ferguson sit down with Matt Allen of Portland General Electric (PGE) to unpack what it really looks like to transition from private arboriculture into utility vegetation management.

After spending 27 years in the private tree care industry, Matt made the leap into the utility world. Now three years in, Matt reflects on the early culture shock, the steep learning curve, and the skills that translated surprisingly well from residential and commercial arboriculture into large-scale utility operations.

The conversation explores the differences between private and utility “customers,” managing crews and contracts at scale, and how expectations shift when public safety, reliability, and regulation enter the picture. Matt also shares what helped him survive those first overwhelming years, what he’d tell someone considering the same career move, and how experienced utility professionals can better support newcomers coming from the private side.

Beyond career transitions, the episode dives into bigger-picture topics like breaking down silos between contractors and utilities, how private arboriculture and utility forestry can learn from each other, and what’s currently happening inside PGE, including vegetation initiatives and wildfire mitigation efforts tied to Wildfire Mitigation Plans (WMPs).

Whether you’re thinking about making the jump into utility vegetation management, onboarding new talent from the private sector, or looking for ways to strengthen collaboration across the industry, this episode offers candid insights from someone who’s lived on both sides of the fence.

A huge thank you to the sponsor of this season and episode, Clear Path Utility Solutions.

In this episode of The Utility Vegetation Management Podcast, hosts Stephen Cieslewicz and Nick Ferguson speak with Andy Abranches, VP of Wildfire Mitigation at PG&E, about how wildfire risk has fundamentally changed. Andy discusses climate and non-climate drivers of extreme wildfire, the evolving role of vegetation management, data-driven mitigation, and the realities of Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS). The conversation also covers coordination with fire agencies, home hardening, defensible space, and what gives Andy optimism as utilities adapt to a new wildfire paradigm.

In this episode of The UVM podcast, hosts Steve Cieslewicz and Nick Ferguson welcome Dennis Fallon, Executive Director of The Utility Arborist Association (UAA) to discuss the organization's strategic plans and evolution. Dennis shares the UAA's ambitious vision for the next 5 years, maintaining its historic role of supporting arborists while evolving to become the voice of the Right-of-Way (ROW) industry. This will involve driving industry norms and best management practices to influence a broader collection of stakeholders.

An example is provided on the lack of standardization in the investigation of tree-caused outages. Utilities with advanced programs collect good data but not to one standard, and researchers therefore have a hard time utilizing this information and drawing conclusions from it. The UAA seeks to move the industry away from data ponds towards communal data lakes that we all stand to benefit from.

In addition to the strategic vision for The UAA, the episode includes a debrief of the record-breaking Trees and Utilities event that took place in September 2025, and a brief on the Environmental Concerns in Right-of-Way Management Symposium that will take place May 11-14 2026 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Past proceedings from the conference can be found here.

A huge thank you to the sponsor of this season and episode, Clear Path Utility Solutions.

Wildfire Mitigation and the Future of Utility Management with Ryan Korpela

In this episode of The UVM Podcast, hosts Nick Ferguson and Steve Cieslewicz hold an in-depth conversation on one of the most pressing issues facing utilities today — wildfire mitigation. Their guest, Ryan Korpela, President at Celerity Utilities and Clear Path Utility Solutions, joins to discuss how his teams are helping utilities strengthen safety, compliance, and operational resilience in an increasingly challenging environment.

Ryan shares the origin story of Clear Path Utility Solutions and its relationship with Celerity, detailing how the company bridges the gap between construction management, vegetation services, and environmental compliance. He outlines Clear Path’s comprehensive suite of services — from risk compliance audits and emergency response to technology-driven vegetation management — all designed to help utilities stay ahead of regulatory requirements and insurer expectations.

The discussion also explores the growing role of technology and data analytics in making vegetation management more predictive, proactive, and integrated with infrastructure planning. Ryan offers valuable insights into the evolving wildfire threat, how utilities can better prepare for extreme weather, and why partnering with expert-driven teams is key to achieving safety and efficiency goals.

As the episode wraps up, listeners are left with practical advice on staying proactive, embracing innovation, and fostering collaboration to build a safer, more reliable energy grid.

Learn more about Clear Path Utility Solutions at clearpathutilityconsulting.com

Co‑hosts Nick Ferguson and Steve Cieslewicz sit down with Chris Vetromile, Wildfire Mitigation Manager at Austin Energy, to unpack how a municipal utility in Central Texas is building a modern wildfire program. Chris traces his career path from California to Texas, then walks through the region’s often‑overlooked wildfire risks and how they differ from the West Coast model. The conversation explores Austin Energy’s preparation for potential state requirements around utility wildfire mitigation plans, the role of technology (including tools like Technosylva), and the way local vegetation—oak and juniper rather than pines—shapes tactics on the ground. Listeners get a look at operational readiness during red‑flag conditions, how wildfire risk is being woven into routine vegetation‑management cycles, the overlap with WUI codes and defensible‑space responsibilities, and how grid‑modernization efforts support prevention and response. The episode also tackles the politics of tree work after major storms like Yuri and Mara, and closes with Chris’s practical advice for utilities standing up new programs in regions where wildfire is a newer concern.

A big thank you to the sponsors of this episode, Clear Path Utility Solutions.