Alerts and advisories

Ready together for wildfire season

Updated July 31, 2026

PDS Red Flag Warning on Saturday, August 1

Due to current weather forecasts, a Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) Red Flag Warning has been issued for eastern and central Washington, including Kittitas County. The purpose of adding PDS to the warning is to heighten awareness of severe fire weather conditions that could lead to increased fire danger and rapid spread for any new or existing fires.

As part of PSE’s wildfire safe operations, we will be turning on system settings that are more sensitive to potential hazards. These sensitive settings will be activated early Saturday afternoon and will remain in effect as long as elevated wildfire risk conditions persist.

Enhanced Powerline Settings are designed to help keep you safe, but they may result in unplanned power outages. For more information or to report a power outage, visit PSE’s Outage map.

This is NOT a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS), where we proactively turn off power in advance of severe weather. You may hear about PSPS actions being considered in other parts of Central Washington. However, forecasts for Kittitas County indicate higher relative humidities than surrounding areas, which helps reduce wildfire risk.

We understand the impact unexpected outages can have on our customers, so we've added additional staffing for our first responders and operations center, are also coordinating our operations with Washington Department of Natural Resources.

We also encourage all of our customers to prepare for outages before they happen. Tips and resources are available at PSE.com/ReadyTogether.

Wildfire safe operations

Keeping our customers and communities safe during  wildfire season is our number one priority. That’s why PSE may operate the electric system more conservatively in the summer to help prevent wildfires. This can result in power outages, and we want you to have the information you need to prepare.

Learn more about PSE’s wildfire safe operations, including Enhanced Powerline Settings (EPS) and Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS).

When an outage or shutoff occurs, and after the severe weather has passed, our crews visually inspect all the power lines to identify and address any hazards before safely restoring power. Because of this critical safety step, restoration can take several hours or even multiple days. Learn more about how we restore power during wildfire season.

Safety tips, resources and reminders

• Make sure to have emergency supplies at home and in your vehicle, such as extra batteries, flashlights, food and blankets.
• Have a battery-powered radio ready to go.
• Charge cell phones and mobile devices in case the power goes out.   
• Download the PSE mobile outage app to track and report outages or visit pse.com/outagemap.
• Update your contact information at pse.com.
• Find more preparedness tips at PSE.com/ReadyTogether.

Learn more about what to expect and how to prepare for a Public Safety Power Shutoff.

Visit PSE on Flickr for images of storm
damage and repairs.