PG&E may be linked to blaze
Fallen tree on wire might have started Dixie Fire
A tree that fell on Pacific Gas & Electric Co. power lines may have helped spark the Dixie Fire, a blaze started near the scar of the deadly 2018 Camp Fire, the utility said in a preliminary filing with state regulators. The fire, only 15% contained, was one of about a dozen fires burning across California Monday.
A PG&E worker sent to check on a power outage at Cresta Dam off Highway 70 on July 13 observed two blown fuses “and what appeared to him to be a healthy green tree” leaning into some electrical equipment. The technician “also observed a fire on the ground near the base of the tree,” which he reported to a supervisor who called 911, PG&E said in its report to the California Public Utilities Commission Sunday night.
Cal Fire air crews reportedly began dropping
water and fire retardants shortly after that call.
The report raises questions about just how fast the utility reported the blaze to firefighters and how quickly it reported its potential role to state regulators, as well as the integrity of PG&E’s infrastructure, which has a checkered history and has been blamed for several major fires in the past.
“PG&E has fought like crazy to keep leaning trees out of its (courtordered wildfire preparedness) requirements,” said former CPUC commissioner Catherine Sandoval, adding that the utility estimated there were 5.3 million trees capable of hitting its lines. “This shows that it doesn’t matter if a tree is healthy or not, any tree that makes contact with a line creates danger.”
Fire crews first dispatched to a vegetation fire at 5:17 p.m. on July 13 reported seeing flames across the Feather River from Highway 70 “near the power lines” in the area of Camp Creek and Dixie roads, according to a Chronicle review of emergency dispatch audio. The area is near PG&E’s Cresta Hydro Powerhouse.
Firefighters arriving at the scene reported seeing PG&E personnel near the area of the flames.
On Monday, the Dixie Fire was burning through more than 30,000 acres of Butte and Plumas counties. The fire grew by more than 11,000 acres overnight, according to Cal Fire, and was threatening more than 800 structures. Parts of Butte and Plumas counties were under evacuation orders.
To the north, the fastmoving Tamarack Fire in Alpine County, south of Lake Tahoe, also grew considerably overnight, with no containment reported Monday, and it had burned 23,078 acres.
There was some good news as the National Weather Service canceled its warning for dry lightning early Monday morning after monsoonal moisture tracked offshore overnight, rather than the direct hit forecast for the Bay Area.
PG&E said it is cooperating with Cal Fire investigators examining the cause of the Dixie Fire, which started just north of the Camp Fire’s origin, a blaze that was caused by broken PG&E equipment.
Matt Nauman, a spokesperson for PG&E, said in an email that “the information PG&E submitted is preliminary, and the company submitted this report in an abundance of caution” after Cal Fire collected some of the utility company’s equipment in connection with the investigation.
It is unclear why it took PG&E five days to report the electrical incident. Utilities are required to file a report within two hours of an incident during normal working hours or within four hours outside of normal working hours, CPUC guidelines state.
Electrical malfunctions are reportable if they might be linked to fatalities or injuries, if the incident prompts significant public attention or media coverage, or if it leads to damage exceeding $50,000. In the past, PG&E has been cited and fined for such violations.
CPUC spokeswoman Terrie Prosper said the agency has opened an investigation into whether the report was made in a timely manner.
“Our staff will investigate to determine if PG&E had enough information/awareness that the fire needed to be reported earlier based on reporting criteria,” she said.
When The Chronicle asked a PG&E spokesman on July 14 if the utility’s equipment may have sparked the Dixie Fire, he responded: “For any questions about the fire and a cause, you’ll need to contact Cal Fire,” the state firefighting agency.
On Monday, Nauman told The Chronicle the company followed the reporting guidelines when reporting the discovery Sunday night.
“Cal Fire collected some of our equipment (Sunday),” Nauman said. “That took until late in the day. We filed the (electrical incident report) Sunday night, meeting the CPUC’s fourhour weekend requirement.”
A Cal Fire spokesman said Monday he could not comment on the ongoing investigation into the Dixie Fire cause.
Sandoval said it appeared that PG&E was required to report the incident to state regulators days earlier. She said it sounded like the blown fuses — which pop to protect a transformer — or an uninsulated line being hit by a tree could cause a spark that ignites a fire. She also said it would be important to learn if that tree had been identified as one of the trees that could strike a power line.
In its report, PG&E said one of its employees first spotted the fire around 4:40 p.m. at the base of a tree that had damaged some fuses. The worker called in the fire to a supervisor who phoned 911, the utility said. A dispatcher alerted the supervisor that firefighters were already responding to the blaze, PG&E said.
However, firefighters were first dispatched to the fire around 5:17 p.m., which raises the question of why PG&E didn’t report the fire in the 37minute window after the fire was spotted. A PG&E spokesman did not immediately respond to a question about the timing of the utility’s 911 call.
Sandoval said she wondered why it took the PG&E employee from 7 a.m., when he first became aware of the blown fuses, to 4:20 p.m. to arrive at the scene of the blown fuses and spot the fire.
“That seems squirrely,” she said. “I have a lot of questions about the timeline and what PG&E knew during those nine hours.”
That would be enough time to call in a helicopter or drone to quickly assess any damage in such dry and vulnerable conditions, Sandoval said.
PG&E equipment has been blamed for a series of monstrous fires in California over the past several years, including the 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County, the state’s deadliest and most destructive fire as measured by buildings burned. The Dixie Fire is burning near the burn scar of the Camp Fire.
In May, PG&E agreed to pay more than $43 million to resolve civil claims from 10 local government agencies over the 2019 Kincade Fire and the 2020 Zogg Fire. In April, the Sonoma County district attorney filed criminal charges against the utility over the Kincade Fire, which destroyed 374 buildings and burned about 78,000 acres in Wine Country.
Monday’s electrical incident linked to the Dixie Fire was not PG&E’s first this year. In January, the utility issued a notice to state regulators in relation to the Freedom Fire in Aptos. During high winds, PG&E reported it found wires down in the area where that fire was first reported. PG&E alerted CPUC regulators that they later learned that Cal Fire was investigating whether those wires started the blaze, which only grew to about 40 acres.
Since October 2019, PG&E has issued 11 electrical incident reports for Northern California fires.
The lightningsparked Tamarack Fire started July 4 near Markleeville, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The federal agency said the fire began after a single tree was hit by lightning on a rocky ridgetop in an area with little fuel.
At that time, fire crews focused attention on larger fires to protect communities, spokesman Jesse Carpenter said. But on Friday, low humidity and strong winds caused the fire to explode.
In Siskiyou County, residents affected by the Lava Fire had criticized the Forest Service earlier this month for prematurely believing that blaze had been extinguished, only for it to burn more than 26,000 acres. The Lava Fire, started by lightning near Mount Shasta, is now 77% contained.
The big Beckwourth Complex fire grew very little, fire officials said. The blaze, on the eastern edge of the Plumas National Forest, has burned more than 105,000 acres and was 82% contained as of Monday afternoon.