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Sustainability and Fire Prevention at Alto DWP

When you think of fires, what is the first thing that is on your mind?​

This very question is what asks us to think deeper each time a extreme weather event occurs- and wildfire season is no exception- especially with the real life devestation that has been happening across California and the rest of the world the last few years. Fires can be huge, destructive, and oftentimes pretty deadly to anyone who lives across the vast remoteness of the UIA. Alto DWP is working together with our partner agencies to come up with a detailed plan to further harden our grid from the ongoing risk of wildfires and extreme weather events impacting our service areas within the City of Alto and the nearby Unincorporated Island communities each and every day.

Our plans and your plans are based off of real life plans​

Despite this being Minecraft of course, we are basing our wildfire plans off of some of the recommended fire prevention guides recently published by the Board of Commissioners and the chief engineer from the REAL LIFE Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). As much as the Alto DWP power system is heavily based on the actual power system that LADWP offers (kinda, sorta as it is mostly a quazzy Haynes system made to look like a prinary-secondary system!), we have decided to offer the following guidance from them:

  • Fire wrapped poles- crucial for providing protection against wildfires in our tree lined areas. Most of these poles are made with a combination of deadwood on the base with hellbark on the top, but occasionally deadwood on the base with redwood on the top is also used
  • Steel and fiberglass poles- if fire wrapped poles don't offer enough protection after a fire or we simply want even greater protection from wildfires, steel and fiberglass poles will be used
  • Avian covers- used mostly for tree lined areas and areas where low lying spans are potentially known for possibly speaking a fire nearby. These covers are provided by TE Connectivity, the maker of all things wire including avian covers that many utilities across the country in real life use to this day
  • Rigerous undergrounding in some of our most high fire risk areas- most if not all of Alto has already been underground around the downtown, midtown, portions of North Shore and portions of North Cape Alto, with many more areas constantly being evaluated as needed. Undergrounding is usually the easiest for us to do, whereas up ground work requires additional work such as needed line clearances and additional span work that usually needs to be planned ahead of time in advance
  • Fiberglass crossarms- we strive to use the latest environmentally friendly fiberglass crossarms provided by MacLean Power Systems and PUPI. Most newly installed and replaced poles as of June 2025 already have the white PUPI 3200 and 3500 series fiberglass crossarms already installed with many more along the way as part of our usual grid improvements
  • Numerous cutoff switches at many of our substations and right-of-ways- To help section off most of our grid and keep it running efficiently for all of our customers. We only touch these cutoffs at last resort if there is an issue on the grid such as storm conditions, a large fire nearby or unusual TPS load on our server.
  • Windvanes and weather sirens to keep you informed and safe- We love weather as much as you do at the Alto DWP that we have these crucial tools installed in many of the communities that we serve to help keep everyone safe and for our crews to better plan for storm season and wildfire season

Despite fires, sustainability is always on our mind​

We like to think ahead on the many ways that we strive to be good stewards towards the environment that we live in. Through various initiatives such as Save the Drop and other communitie events and outreach, Alto DWP aims to reduce environmental impact, conserve resources, and support the community in achieving a sustainable future.

We provide public recreational land for everyone to enjoy across Unincorporated Island and around Cape Alto to fish, boat, hike, relax and just be yourself in the great outdoors. Minecraft is full of possibilities, and we want you to be part of this great adventure with us. Be sure to check out the Alto DWP on Unincorporated Island for more community information and to learn more about our operations in that area.