*PNM’s press conference will be live-streamed at the top of this article. The full video of the conference will be added once the stream has ended.
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – With high winds and dry air increasing the risk of power-line-sparked wildfires throughout New Mexico, the state’s largest electric company, the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM), is following California’s lead and preparing for possible power shutoffs as winds pick up on Thursday. PNM said its crews will consider the amount of fire fuel, moisture content, and windspeed in specific areas as factors in its power shutoff decision-making.
Many parts of New Mexico are under a wind advisory and/or red-flag warning Thursday morning, with winds expected to reach up to 65 miles per hour in some areas later in the day. The East Mountains, Santa Fe, and Las Vegas are the areas most likely to be impacted by PNM’s power shutoff, according to the power company.
If PNM does shut off the power on Thursday, the outage would have the potential to last overnight and into Friday. A Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) would affect roughly 11,000 PNM customers in the East Mountains, 35,000 customers in Santa Fe and the Cochiti Pueblo, and 2,300 customers in Las Vegas.
In PNM’s media briefing on Wednesday, the power company’s vice president of operations said, “It’s important to point out that PNM has not made a decision to implement public safety power shutoffs at this time, but we are mobilizing crews and resources in case it becomes necessary.”
Over the last twelve years, New Mexico has seen at least three power-line-sparked wildfires, including the 2022 McBride Fire in Ruidoso, the 2013 Tres Lagunas Fire near Pecos, and the 2013 Thompson Ridge Fire near Los Alamos in 2013.
PNM encourages community members to take the following steps ahead of and in case of outages on Thursday:
- Customers should sign up for outage alerts by texting #REG to 78766 from a phone number associated with their account. Then text #ALERT to 78766.
- Customers should update their contact information at PNM.com/login or call us at 888-DIAL-PNM.
- Given the widespread nature of the storm, it is also possible that customers outside of these areas could experience extended power outages. Customers can report a power outage at PNM.com/outage or by texting #REG to 78766 and then #OUT to 78766. Customers can view the power outage map at PNM.com/outagemap.
- Plan ahead. The American Red Cross advises steps to prepare for a power outage at: https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/power-outage.html.
- Learn more at PNM.com/wildfire-safety.