Teamprobing deadly fire seizes PG&E equipment
SAN JOSE, CALIF. » Fire investigators looking into what caused awildfire that killed four people in far Northern California have taken possession of equipment belonging to Pacific Gas and Electric, the utility has reported.
PG& E said in a filing Friday with the Public Utilities Commission that investigators with the Californiadepartment of Forestry and Fire Protection seized some of its electrical equipment near where the Zogg Fire started Sept. 27.
The fire erupted in Shasta County during high winds and quickly grew, killing four people in the community of Igo, population 600. It later spread to neighboring Tehama County. As of Friday, it had scorched 88 square miles and destroyed more than 200 buildings, about half of them homes. It was almost fully contained.
The utility said it does not have access to the evidence collected by Cal Fire, whichhas yet to determine a cause for the fire.
PG& E, the nation’s largest utility, recently emerged from bankruptcy stemming from financial fallout from several devastating wildfires caused by its utility equipment that killedmore than 100 people and destroyed more than 27,000 homes and other buildings in 2017 and 2018.
Customers in the area where the fire started, near Zogg Mine Road and Jenny Bird Lane north of Igo, are served by a 12,000volt PG&E circuit. On the day the Zogg Fire began, the utility’s automated equipment in the area “reported alarms and other activity between approximately 2:40 p.m. and 3:06 p.m.,” PG& E told regulators. The linewas then deactivated.
The Shastacounty Sheriff’s Office identified one of the victims as Alaina Michelle Rowe, 45, who was found dead along a road on Sept. 28.
The sheriff’s department said another victim wasaminor butdidnot report the identity. KRCR-TV in Redding reported that Rowe and her eight-yearold daughter Feyla died as they tried to escape the fire.