PG&E was in the air checking for dead and dying trees that could potentially be dangerous, and found fewer of them than during the drought years.
They flew for two hours over Hat Creek, Cassel and Old Station, checking for dying trees that could pose a threat to power lines.
"Forest Service will hike out to those locations and verify the condition of the trees, and if they need to be removed, we’ll work with the property owner to hire a contractor to remove that tree," Paul Moreno with PG&E said.
Trees falling on power lines can not only cause outages, but can create electrocution hazard, or spark wildfires.
On Wednesday’s flight, a total of 50 dead trees were counted in the area, a drop from recent years.
"The trend we’re seeing this year is less tree mortality, and that’s good news," Moreno said.
"The tree mortality we’re seeing is above normal, so we’re going to continue to patrol for tree damage and tree hazards," Moreno said.
"Oddly enough, we’re seeing impacts on Juniper Trees, which we hadn’t seen so much before because they’re actually very hardy trees that do well in dry conditions, but years of drought have taken their toll on those," Moreno said.
After they increased patrols from once to twice a year during drought years, things may be looking up.
"We’re hopeful that we can get good bounce back from the effects of the drought with this wet year," Moreno said.