At least a dozen wildfires that ripped through Northern California last October, including the deadly Atlas and Nuns fires in the North Bay, were caused by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. power lines, state officials said Friday. The findings by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection are the first to lay out an official source of ignition for any of the Wine Country blazes, which killed 41 people and destroyed nearly 9,000 homes in a wind-driven inferno. The most destructive of the burns, the Tubbs Fire that hit Santa Rosa, remains under investigation. The completed investigations show that downed electric lines or trees and branches coming into contact with power equipment sparked eight fires in Sonoma and Napa counties, which resulted in eight fatalities, as well as Mendocino County’s Redwood Fire, which left nine dead. Three smaller blazes, in Lake, Humboldt and Butte counties, were also ignited by PG&E equipment, according to Cal Fire. The finding of responsibility “is great news,” said Clifford Rainey, a glass sculptor who lost his life’s work in Napa County’s Atlas Fire and is among many victims suing PG&E for damages. “It’s definitely worth a glass of wine tonight.” In eight of the 12 fires, Cal Fire officials said PG&E violated state law, though investigators did not cite what specific laws were broken. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea...ornia-fires-caused-by-PG-E-power-12979955.php
They are doing the same thing with the Thomas Fire down south. Blame the Power Company. Everybody but the rate payers win that way. The state and the Fire districts get reimbursed. The power companies operate on a state controlled guaranteed profit basis (10%) so they get a rate increase to cover the fire cost. This then gives them higher revenues and therefore bigger profits. Ha. probably the biggest property losses in the Thomas fire were to the power companies. Poles burning and Substations blowing up in the heat.
True. And a dam good reason to put the blame and a fix on where the problem really is. No way to get money out of that though.
There are so many ways large wild fires get started. Two seasons ago, lightning strikes started hundreds of fires. Some fires became very large and burned for months. Lives were lost. My point is. Wild fires are getting larger, and more exspensive to fight. The US Forest Service is responsible for fighting many of the wild fires. Last season, more than 50% of their entire annual budget was spent fighting fires. Money spent fighting fires now comes from projects needed to improve conditions, that reduce the sizes of fires. So in the future, exspect larger wild fires, and more of them.
Southern California (land of naked brown hills, because trees were burned in the 1800s to find Indians and ease their extermination, same as Viet Nam) has annual fires in the summer. But unusually, this fire was 1) in Nov. (Dec.?) and 2) way north of San Francisco. Global warming contributed. The news is that they blame utility workers, who chop down trees that grow too close to towers in fire breaks/fire trails, since falling trees push down towers during fires. Maris should know about this. The spin I will add is...maybe the reason environment-conscious utility workers didn't chop down quite enough is...they are trained to minimize the amount of N. California that looks like S. California.
I'd like to know more before I decide which way I think is right. I did hear the PG and E broke some laws that led up to these fires. Geez, quite a few people died in these fires. This is serious business.
