Wildfires continue to occur across the United States, making prevention a central focus.
Witching Hour, a hard-tech startup in the Innovation Crossroads program at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), is developing a system to reduce wildfire risks by adding insulation to power lines in fire-prone areas.
In 2025, wildfires in the United States caused widespread damage, resulting in costs of hundreds of billions of dollars and affecting millions of people.
According to an interview with ORNL, Witching Hour founder Lance Adler highlighted the potential for solutions to reduce these impacts.
The company is addressing risks associated with overhead, often uninsulated power lines, aiming to improve protection for both utility providers and communities.
Traditional approaches, such as undergrounding power lines, can take years to implement and cost millions per mile, whereas Witching Hour is developing an alternative designed to be faster and more cost-efficient.
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