PG&E: Suggests it may be at fault for Dixie Fire
SAN FRANCISCO >> In a release to California utility regulators, Pacific Gas & Electric has suggested it may be responsible for the still active Dixie Fire.
The utility giant has a history of equipment failure starting massive wildfires. In 2018, a nearly 100-year-old PG&E hook broke sparking the Camp Fire and leading to the deaths of 85 people and the majority of Paradise being burnt.
PG&E Public Information Officer Paul Moreno was not taking questions on Monday when this paper made contact with him. Instead, Moreno deferred to the incident report submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission.
“On July 13, 2021 at approximately (7 a.m.), PG&E’s outage system indicated that Cresta Dam off of Highway 70 in the Feather River Canyon lost power,” the report began.
Following the system indication, a PG&E employee checked on the location and apparently observed a blown fuse on the PG&E Bucks Creek Overhead Distribution Circuit.
The report continued, “Due to the challenging terrain and road work resulting in a bridge closure, he was not able to reach the pole with the fuse until approximately (4:30 p.m.).”
PG&E did not indicate when its worker saw firsthand what appeared to be a blown fuse, only when the system indicated a power outage and over nine hours later when contact was made with the equipment.
PG&E said when the worker arrived at the conductor he observed two of three fuses blown and a “healthy green tree” leaning into the 12,000-volt Bucks Creek conductor, which was still intact and suspended on the poles. According to PG&E, the worker also observed a fire near the base of the tree. The worker manually removed the third fuse and reported the fire.
Approximately 50 minutes later, Cal Fire-Butte County firefighters made it the scene. At request from the fire agency, PG&E deenergized another section of the Bucks Creek line.
The Dixie Fire continued to grow after nearly doubling in size overnight Sunday into Monday morning. Reports Monday had the fire at 15 percent containment and 30,074 acres.
Now that the fire is not only in Plumas County, Butte County District Attorney’s Office has joined Cal Fire’s investigation into the cause.
“On Tuesday night, we got the information that this might be a PG&E caused fire so we put our PG&E folks that are experienced investigators and attorneys on it,” said Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey. “Starting that night, we’ve been working with Cal Fire investigators to investigate the cause of the fire.”
Ramsey said Butte County and Cal Fire investigators spent Sunday with PG&E personnel to retrieve evidence from the scene, noting the areas history with PG&E caused wildfires.
“The could be repercussions depending on some of our forensics whether this tree could have been expected to fall into that line,” Ramsey said. “We’re a little hypersensitive with PG&E caused fires here. As soon as we heard there was a possibility they caused it, we kind of started pulling out all of the stops to figure this out.”