COLLEGE STATION, Texas — A California-based utility company is utilizing a tool developed at Texas A&M University to help prevent wildfires before they start.
The tool - called a distribution fault anticipator or DFA - is a system that detects circuit anomalies and notifies utility operators before they can cause a power outage or spark a fire.
California's pacific gas and electric company is adding over 600 DFA's over the next three years in order to detect and prevent wildfires.
"We have the opportunity of watching for things that look abnormal on a power line and then subsequently we can find those things and fix them before we have a catastrophic failure that starts the fire." said Don Russell, professor of Electrical Engineering, Texas A&M.
In addition to California, the DFA's has also been utilized by companies located in Texas, Georgia, as well as overseas.
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