AUSTIN, Texas — Austin Energy will be using extra safety precautions on Sunday due to the increased fire risk in Travis County.
The utility says that the National Weather Service’s issuing of a Red Flag Warning for central Texas has prompted them to activate their enhanced powerline safety settings.
These safety settings remove the system’s ability to automatically re-energize after an outage, according to Austin Energy. Crews will instead physically walk and inspect affected circuits to make sure equipment is safe to turn back on.
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The powerline safety settings will be active from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday, the utility says. Outage restoration make take longer than usual during that time.
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“Our priority is always to keep the community safe,” said Austin Energy Deputy General Manager and Chief Operating Officer Lisa Martin. “By turning on these enhanced safety settings, we are taking temporary and proactive measures to reduce risk during these weather conditions.”