T&D World covers wildfire mitigation year-round, but each May, we devote a special section or supplement to this topic. This audio story in our ICYMI series examines how Portland General Electric (PGE) is adopting a holistic approach to mitigation, setting a model for preventing wildfires in the Northwest.

To read the full story, which was authored by Ben Felton, executive vice president and chief operating officer of PGE and narrated by Amy Fischbach, host of the Line Life Podcast, visit the wildfire page on the T&D World website. Also, subscribe to the Line Life Podcast channel to listen to more audio stories about wildfire mitigation from the May 2025 special report in the print issue. We'd love to have you as part of our podcast community. Thanks for tuning in!

T&D Talk is a special series on the T&D World Line Life podcast channel. For each episode, companies can share their stories about how they are supporting the electric utility industry. Through their tools, technologies, products and services, they are helping lineworkers and fieldworkers improve their productivity and safety.

For Part 2 of a three-part series sponsored by Southwire, we are featuring the episode, "Novel Innovations in T&D to Ensure a Reliable Electric Grid." This episode focuses on innovations in transmission and distribution to ensure reliability and resiliency. Our guest is Charles Holcombe, director of overhead systems and solutions for Southwire.

To learn more about our guest and the topic of this episode, visit the T&D World website. You can also listen to Part 1 of our series by clicking here. Part 1 focuses on the role of Southwire's analytics in DEMCO's grid management.

Alman Kerste, a father of three kids, grew up in California and worked for Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) before relocating to the Kansas City area, where he now works for Evergy. He has spent nearly two decades in the line trade, most recently as an evening troubleman and a journeyman lineworker for a C&M crew in a district.

During this Line Life Podcast interview, he talks about responding to outages caused by thunderstorms in his home service territory and traveling to provide mutual assistance following Hurricane Helene. He also shares his experiences as a competitor and a volunteer for the International Lineman's Rodeo.