PG&E helicopters buzz Bay Area to assess fire hazards
Bay Area residents may notice lowflying helicopters overhead this month as Pacific Gas and Electric Co. conducts aerial fireprevention patrols to identify trees and vegetation near power lines.
The utility is inspecting lines in the highfire-threat areas of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, PG&E spokeswoman Andrea Menniti said.
Helicopters flying at altitudes between 300 and 500 feet will survey power lines with lidar technology, a lightsensing form of radar, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Menniti said PG&E is contacting residents by phone and mail in advance of helicopter patrols near their homes.
PG&E has increased vegetationtrimming efforts and surveys of power lines following wildfires in 2017 and 2018 that investigators found were caused by the company’s equipment. Damage from the fires created billions of dollars in potential liability that led to the company’s bankruptcy filing.
A federal judge ruled in April that PG&E must comply with a number of new wildfireprevention requirements, including vegetation management, or risk further violating probation. Judge William Alsup is presiding over a case that originated with the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion, in which he found that PG&E violated probation after failing to properly report its involvement with a 2017 fire.
In addition to the helicopter surveys, PG&E said in a press release last week that the company is flying seven planes over California every day this summer to spot wildfires before they spread. “Early detection with these patrols can give first responders the critical window of time to quickly contain wildfires,” PG&E executive Sumeet Singh said in a statement.