‘Pop’ sparks grass fire near PG&E Stagg Substation

STOCKTON — Just behind Tom Henry’s landscaped, well-manicured Brookside home lies a berm providing a public trail leading to White Slough. East of that is a small strip of land before you get to Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s Stagg Substation along Feather River Drive.

About 6 p.m. Sunday, Henry heard a loud “pop” coming from the substation and later learned it was from a blown transformer. That explosion sent sparks into the tall, dry brush growing in the open section behind Henry’s and his neighbors’ homes on Autumn Chase Circle.

Those sparks started a grass fire that, luckily for the homeowners and the residents of a large apartment complex to the south, the Stockton Fire Department made short work of.

What sparks Henry’s ire is that he warned PG&E — the owner of that small section of land — multiple times this year about the fire danger he perceived was caused by the utility company’s neglect of its property. He believes one or more of his neighbors also contacted the company about the fire danger, but that could not be confirmed.

Henry said there has been at least one smaller brush fire in each of the past two years, but Sunday’s had the potential — if the wind had been stronger — of getting out of control and reaching nearby structures.

“It’s a good thing it wasn’t windy or it could have been a repeat of the Quail Lakes fire,” Henry said, referring to the devastating 2008 fire that started along Interstate 5 and damaged or destroyed 13 homes resulting in $5 million in property damage.

Henry said his contact with PG&E resulted in a representative refusing to cut down the dry brush — some thistle bushes as tall as 10 feet, according to Henry — because it does not pose a problem to electric transmission wires.

“They told me previously that is not a fire hazard and fits within their code of regularity or something like that. I just find that unbelievable that they are so negligent in this,” Henry wrote in an email to The Record.

Henry said during his last contact with PG&E, “I told (the representative) you were setting yourself up for a major disaster.”

PG&E spokeswoman Brandi Ehlers confirmed Monday that PG&E was contacted by Henry.

“We did meet Aug. 7. At that time we didn’t find anything that was threatening our facility,” Ehlers said.

She said the utility maintains its property through “a weed abatement program that deals with weeds around the substation. We have visited the site for work twice this year. In February, we applied a treatment, and in May we completed mowing on the property. We had a crew scheduled to mow the property early next month, but we have moved them up to (Tuesday).”

Said Henry late Monday: “Too bad it wasn’t yesterday. But that is encouraging.”

Ehlers noted that “Safety is our top priority at PG&E. We comply with all regulations regarding vegetation around our facilities and substations.”