Power lines cited as key cause of fires tied to PG&E
The federal judge overseeing Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s criminal probation issued tentative findings Thursday that described woodlands containing PG&E power poles and lines as scenes of wildfires waiting to happen.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco is considering whether the state’s largest investor-owned utility mismanaged its equipment so badly that it sparked devastating wildfires in 2017 and 2018. That could violate the terms of the probation PG&E is serving for its felony convictions on charges stemming from the 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion that killed eight people.
After reviewing documents provided by the company, Alsup said his tentative conclusion is that “the single most recurring cause of the large 2017 and 2018 wildfires attributable to PG&E’s equipment has been the susceptibility of PG&E’s
distribution lines to trees or limbs falling onto them during high-wind events.”
In rural areas, the judge said, PG&E plants poles 35 to 50 feet high in grass, brush, oak and pines, using power lines that “are almost always uninsulated.”
“When the conductors are pushed together by falling trees or limbs, electrical sparks drop onto the vegetation below,” Alsup said. “During the wildfire season when the vegetation is dry, these electrical sparks pose an extreme danger of igniting a wildfire.”
He asked PG&E and federal prosecutors for comments by Wednesday and scheduled a hearing for Jan. 30.
PG&E spokesman James Noonan said the company is reviewing the judge’s latest filing.
“We are committed to complying with all rules and regulations that apply to our work, while working together with our state and community partners and across all sectors and disciplines to develop comprehensive, longterm safety solutions for the future,” Noonan said in an email.
Mike Danko, a Bay Area attorney representing fire victims suing PG&E over November’s Camp Fire in Butte County and the 2017 blazes, said he thinks Alsup is “drawing (PG&E) out a little bit” with his tentative finding.
The utility’s response could raise questions about why it has not done more to prevent its equipment from sparking fires, such as insulating conductors or burying the lines underground, Danko said.
“This conversation ... it’s not going to go well,” Danko said.
Separately, PG&E on Thursday provided more details to Alsup about an annual report it submitted to utility regulators regarding fires that burned in 2017. The California Public Utilities Commission requires the annual reports in order to “improve regulations and internal utility standards to reduce the likelihood of fires,” according to its website.
But PG&E told the judge its 2017 report excluded nearly all of the fires that burned in October of that year because the causes were still under investigation or could be disputed at the time. The utility said it informed regulators of the exclusions when it submitted the report.
Noonan described that filing as “clarifying information” per the judge’s request and said the utility continues to assess its infrastructure in the hopes of “further enhancing safety and helping protect all of the customers we serve from the ever-increasing threat of wildfires.”
Alsup issued a more dramatic filing last week, when he said he would consider ordering PG&E, as part of its probation, to inspect its power grid and trim or remove any trees that could contact its lines or equipment in high winds. When the wildfire season starts this June, Alsup said, PG&E would be barred from supplying electricity to any part of its grid that the company had not yet rated safe for wind gusts that were forecast in the area.