Both the Butte County District Attorney and Cal Fire conducted separate investigations into Camp Fire cause and the answer (twice) was PG&E equipment. It’s official now. Cal Fire today issued a Press Release and on May 2, DA Mike Ramsey told the media that his investigation had ruled out all other causes except PG&E equipment but hadn’t (yet) determined if manslaughter charges could apply. The transmission tower at fault was 25 years beyond what PG&E considers its “useful lifespan.”
The Cal Fire statement begins by summarizing the Camp Fire disaster and then swiftly identifies the two PG&E ignition sites.
The Camp Fire in Butte County, started the morning of November 8,2018, and burned a total of 153,336 acres, destroying 18,804 structures and resulting in85 civilian fatalities and several firefighter injuries. The Camp Fire is the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
CAL FIRE investigators were immediately dispatched to the Camp Fire and began working to determine the origin and cause of the fire. After a very meticulous and thorough investigation, CAL FIRE has determined that the Camp Fire was caused by electrical transmission lines owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electricity (PG&E)located in the Pulga area.
The fire started in the early morning hours near the community of Pulga in ButteCounty. The tinder dry vegetation and Red Flag conditions consisting of strong winds, low humidity and warm temperatures promoted this fire and caused extreme rates of spread, rapidly burning into Pulga to the east and west into Concow, Paradise, Magalia and the outskirts of east Chico.
The investigation identified a second ignition sight [sic] near the intersection of Concow Rd.and Rim Rd. The cause of the second fire was determined to be vegetation into electrical distribution lines owned and operated by PG&E. This fire was consumed by the original fire which started earlier near Pulga.
In February, just 3 months after the fire, PG&E stated it was probable their transmission line was responsible. One month previous to this statement, PG&E filed for bankruptcy protection while at the same time giving their ex-CEO a severance pay of approximately $2.5 million. The bankruptcy was triggered by a $10.5 billion charge in fourth quarter earnings for claims connected to the Camp Fire. In March, PG&E asked a judge to allow $2.5 million in employee bonuses in 2019, but decided not to pay out the previously planned $130 million bonuses for 2018. The new CEO, announced in April, will receive a one-time payment of $3 million on day one, a $2.5 million base pay annually plus stock options.
On May 13th, Judge William Alsup who is overseeing PG&E’s criminal prosecution for the 2019 fire in San Bruno (gas pipeline explosion), ordered PG&E’s new CEO and other executives to tour the Camp Fire disaster area and the site of the gas explosion in the south SF peninsula area.
The goal of the tours, according to the new probation language all the parties agreed to submit Monday to the court is for the company “to gain a firsthand understanding of the harm inflicted on those communities and meet with victims and others stakeholders, such as firefighting personnel and/or city officials.”
Alsup also ordered PG&E to assume more responsibility to prevent their equipment from igniting fires.
Another new measure requires that PG&E’s board appoint a committee to assume direct responsibility over its compliance to the provisions of its wildfire safety plan. That plan includes expanded tree trimming efforts and inspections of power lines and expands its plan to shut off power to reduce the risk of fire in high wind conditions.
Although PG&E was found not liable for the 2017 catastrophic fires in the North Bay, Alsup learned that PG&E had neglected to disclose a previous out of court settlement with Butte County Prosecutors for the 2017 Honey Fire on Paradise’s western edge. That fire occurred at the same time as the North Bay fires and fire control efforts were restricted by the resources allocated to the much larger fires. One flight of fire retardant was made available for that fire and it held the fire from crossing two lanes of highway and entering Paradise’s dense residential neighborhood.
As the NY Times pointed out in their article California Wildfires: How PG&E Ignored Fire Risks in Favor of Profits, the transmission tower that sparked the Camp Fire was not an isolated incident of malfunction.
Five of the 10 most destructive fires in California since 2015 have been linked to PG&E’s electrical network. Regulators have found that in many fires, PG&E violated state law or could have done more to make its equipment safer.
Long before the failure suspected in the Paradise fire, a company email had noted that some of PG&E’s structures in the area, known for fierce winds, were at risk of collapse. It reported corrosion of one tower so severe that it endangered crews trying to repair the tower. The company’s own guidelines put Tower 27/222 a quarter-century beyond its useful life — but the tower remained.
Governor Gavin Newsom seems to be taking a firm stance about PG&E’s responsibilities for this fire, past fires, and prevention of future fires, blasting it in a court filing for “mismanagement, misconduct and failed efforts to improve a woeful safety culture.” Newsom also wrote that PG&E “reflects no sense of urgency in addressing the serious problems and issues confronting” the company.
PG&E’s response is to (once again) say (paraphrased) we’re going to be serious about this now.
“The first thing that I’m going to do is bring an intense focus back to the fundamentals of operating a utility system,” [new CEO Bill Johnson ] Johnson said. “Clear roles. Clear accountability. Clear standards of what good looks like. And I’ve already seen a number of places where we’re not even ‘pretty good.’
“We lag the industry in some important performance indicators. To me this is an exercise in returning to the mastery of the fundamentals of the business.”
He said the company will be “laser focused” on safety, but added, “I won’t expect you to believe that until you see the results.”
He said the company is going to inspect tens of thousands of miles of its lines as well as hundreds of thousands of pieces of equipment. He estimated it would cost between $600 million and $900 million as part of a systemwide safety program that also includes trimming trees around its lines.