PG&E equipment may have sparked Dixie Fire, utility says in report to state
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. equipment may be to blame for igniting the Dixie Fire, a wildfire that has charred more than 30,000 acres in Northern California and continues to force evacuations in parts of Butte and Plumas counties, the private utility company said in a report late Sunday night.
PG&E — driven into bankruptcy in 2019 by wildfire liabilities and under increased scrutiny from regulators over public safety — says one of its workers saw the fire while inspecting a blown fuse.
The report says that around 7 a.m. last Tuesday, PG&E’s outage system showed an outage near Cresta Dam in the Feather River Canyon area, the same area in which the Dixie Fire started.
“The responding PG&E troubleman observed from a distance what he thought was a blown fuse,” reads the report, which was filed to the California Public Utilities Commission just before 11:30 p.m. Sunday.
The report, posted to the PG&E website, says that due to “challenging terrain and road work resulting in a bridge closure,” the worker could not reach the pole with the blown fuse until around 4:40 p.m. that day.
When the troubleman arrived, he observed “a fire on the ground near the base of the tree,” as well as “two of three fuses blown and what appeared to him to be a healthy green tree leaning into the Bucks Creek 1101 12 kV conductor, which was still intact and suspended on the poles,” the report says.
The utility worker called his supervisor, who in turn called 911.
Cal Fire reported the fire as growing to 10 or 15 acres later that evening. It has exploded in size since then. Cal Fire’s Butte Unit in a Monday morning update reported the Dixie Fire at just over 30,000 acres, up from about 19,000 acres Sunday evening, with containment still at 15%.
Cal Fire investigators have collected damaged PG&E equipment from the scene, PG&E’s report says.
PG&E was found criminally responsible for the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in California’s recorded history, which killed 85 people in Butte County. The Camp Fire, which destroyed much of Paradise, was the latest in a string of mega-fires that landed PG&E in bankruptcy in early 2019. The company exited bankruptcy last year after pledging to pay $13.5 billion to compensate fire victims for losses not covered by their insurance.
Since leaving bankruptcy, PG&E has been linked to other fires. It paid $43 million to local governments to cover costs of the 2019 Kincade Fire in Sonoma County and last year’s fatal Zogg Fire in Shasta County. It is probably facing another $600 million in damage payments to homeowners and others. Meanwhile, the utility is facing prosecution in Sonoma and a criminal investigation in Shasta.
The Public Utilities Commission in April placed the company in the first tier of its “enhanced oversight and enforcement” protocol after determining that PG&E did a poor job last year of clearing tree limbs and other vegetation away from its riskiest power lines. The company could theoretically be taken over by the state if it reaches the sixth and final tier of the PUC’s enhanced oversight program.
The company has vowed to do better and is spending $4.9 billion on wildfire safety this year. But company officials say the drought and climate change are making wildfire conditions worse, especially in what is considered the early stages of the fire season.
“The fuel moisture levels ... are about a month or two months ahead of schedule,” the utility’s chief meteorologist Scott Strenfel said in a recent interview. “We’re a month ahead of schedule, if not two months, in terms of fire danger.
One first responder has been injured battling the Dixie Fire, according to Cal Fire incident summaries.
Mandatory evacuation orders are in place in the High Lakes, Bucks Lake and Meadow Valley areas of Plumas County, as well as the communities of Jonesville and Philbrook in Butte County, according to Cal Fire and sheriff’s officials.
Approximately 800 structures remain threatened, Cal Fire said Monday.
This story was originally published July 19, 2021 at 7:54 AM.
