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The ravages of the pandemic are still with us in California as the threat of wildfire heightens.

The deadly combination creates challenges for utilities pressing to reduce the risk of fire ignited by power lines before temperatures peak.

As it was, the virus created difficulties for the investor-owned utilities working to mitigate blazes in high fire threat areas, particularly in terms of customer communications and crew configurations.

There is widespread agreement that the work of making the grid more resistant to fire must continue. The California Public Utilities Commission, Office of Emergency Services and CalFire deemed the work “essential” at the end of March. They also jointly directed the companies to improve notifications to customer and local agencies affected by power disruptions.

Pacific Gas & Electric’s and Southern California Edison’s wildfire mitigation efforts, from covering and sectionalizing lines to pole replacements, require that electricity be shut off while work is in progress.

At the end of last month, the CPUC ordered both utilities to shorten these outages because so many people are relying more heavily on power at home because of shelter in place directives. The order said when possible, outages should be scheduled at night “to minimize impact on daytime household activities.”

San Diego Gas & Electric was not included in the CPUC directive because it implemented massive system hardening following huge blazes in its region in 2007.

State energy regulators and their safety brethren also required advance and sufficient customer notification of power shutoffs during fires, a point of contention during PG&E’s wildfire outages last year. Up to 2 million people, and safety and other critical agencies, had no electricity for as long as several days. PG&E’s phone lines were jammed, and its website crashed, leaving people in the dark as to how long they would be without power.

In addition, this week the CPUC asked for public comments on its guidelines to improve utility communications during safety power outages. Its proposed decision released April 27 includes requiring the utilities to develop communication and notification plans with communities and ensure the public can access utility websites that pinpoint the location of proposed or active shut offs. It also would mandate that utilities:

Provide cell phone companies specific information as to when and where power flows will be cut off and when restarted. Identify people who may be harmed by an extended power outage because of health issues. Re-energize the power lines after a safety shutoff as soon as possible and within 24 hours. Work with local, tribal, federal and state government agencies, and other private and public sector parties to identify critical transportation, telecommunications, and water system infrastructure.

Covid-19 has resulted in the reconfiguring of utility crews to allow social distancing when possible.

Many workers now drive solo instead of together in company trucks to worksites to minimize being together in a confined space. Smaller clusters of crews carry out the grid hardening jobs. Southern California Edison crews, for example, work in “pods” of four to six workers, said spokesperson David Song. And, crew personnel have been moved from non-essential work to grid hardening jobs to reduce the time of power shutoffs to three to four hours.

State agencies specified this week that photovoltaic and energy storage are included on the list of critical energy functions. Also on the list are fire mitigation work, emergency response, critical maintenance and new customer connections.

Solar and storage installation and maintenance have “the added importance of supporting the resilience and continued operations of critical equipment and infrastructure across the state that requires uninterrupted power,” the California Energy Commission stated Monday. That includes for powering medical equipment and other devices to protect against potential grid outages and/or public safety power shutoffs.

The solar and energy storage businesses, made up largely of small companies, are among the many firms impacted by the pandemic. Many lost financing and jobs, and had to lay off staff.