Reliable power supports uphill water pumping in forest fire drill

On Oct 30, State Grid Zhejiang Power Supply Company joined in a live drill for forest fire prevention and extinguishing in Jingning county, Lishui, Zhejiang province. The exercise was built around pumping water up into the mountains.

"Emergency power connected, communications running steadily, voltage at the high-lift pumps within limits..." The call, relayed from the drill site, confirmed that everything the operation depended on was holding.

Ahead of the exercise, the company ran dedicated inspections of the supply facilities around the drill areas, Dongkeng among them, and moved emergency power supplies into place. That kept communications at the on-site command headquarters and key equipment such as the high-lift pumps running, and supported the "1618" rescue command system.

Through the drill, company staff members went over the distribution equipment, metering devices, and lines at each site. They used infrared thermometers to check terminals and other parts for overheating, building a full picture of how the supply facilities were performing and dealing with safety hazards as they emerged.

The company also put drones to work as eyes in the sky. Its patrols now run on three tracks at once: drone patrols with loudspeakers, foot patrols, and online monitoring. Together they cover the transmission and distribution lines that cross forest areas.

Fitted with high-definition cameras and thermal imaging equipment, the drones flew low along the line corridors. They looked for tree obstructions around towers, buildups of flammable material in the corridors, and heating at wiring terminals, and sent images of the surrounding area back to ground terminals in real time. An abnormal temperature reading could be pinned down and located at once, giving crews time to respond.

The drones' loudspeakers carried fire safety warnings to people living near the forests.

In the coordination phase, the drones scouted the simulated fire site and the transmission corridors around it from the air, sending back high-definition images and infrared data in real time. They shared routes up the mountain and the locations of lines, helping the on-site command headquarters follow the fire and the state of the grid.

Staff members also instructed the drill participants and nearby residents about autumn fire precautions, equipment maintenance, and common ways of clearing faults, and about how to deal with power problems that came up at the site.

Jingning county has long put ecology first in its development. Using the drill as an occasion, the company checked the lines crossing forest areas for fire hazards, paying particular attention to line corridors, equipment joints, and guy wires. It cleared flammable materials from the corridors, opened a hazard ledger, and worked to rectify each item, closing the loop.

The two-pronged approach, reliable power supply paired with fire prevention, has built a double line of defense for the forest ecosystem and for the power grid.

Going forward, State Grid Zhejiang Power Supply Company will review what the drill showed about securing supply, refine its service measures, and work more closely with departments including the county forest fire prevention and control command office. It will seek customers' views on its power services and on fire prevention work, step up operations and maintenance of the lines crossing forest areas, and help forest firefighting and grid safety improve together, protecting the area's green mountains and clear waters.