- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Cal Fire investigation traces Kincade fire to PG&E equipment
The Kincade fire started on Oct. 23, 2019, several hours after a public safety power shutoff was implemented across portions of the North Bay – including Lake and Sonoma counties – in response to a red flag warning for heavy winds.
It burned a total of 77,758 acres, destroyed 374 structures and caused four non-life-threatening injuries for first responders, Cal Fire reported. There were no deaths attributed to the fire.
In a statement issued on Thursday afternoon, PG&E said it was aware of Cal Fire’s statement on its determination into the fire’s cause.
“At this time, we do not have access to Cal Fire’s investigative report or the evidence it has collected. We look forward to reviewing both at the appropriate time,” the company said.
North Coast Sen. Mike McGuire, whose district includes Lake and Sonoma counties, said Thursday, “PG&E has become too big and has failed us too many times,” referring to the San Bruno explosion, the massive wildfires of 2017 and 2018, the fall public safety power shutoffs and now the Kincade fire.
McGuire maintained that the company should be broken up.
The Kincade fire burned for two weeks, finally being fully contained on Nov. 6.
During the weeks it burned, it triggered massive evacuations across a wide swath of Sonoma County and also burned into the southwest portion of Lake County near Middletown, which resulted in an evacuation warning for the Cobb and Middletown areas.
Cal Fire said its investigators were immediately dispatched to the Kincade fire after it started and began working to determine the fire’s origin and cause of the fire.
Within days of the fire’s start, PG&E acknowledged making a report to the California Public Utilities Commission about a failed transmission line in The Geysers Geothermal Steamfield in the fire’s area of origin in Sonoma County the day after the fire started.
PG&E said that as part of the Oct. 23 public safety power shutoff, it had turned off the power to 27,837 customers in Sonoma County, including Geyserville and the surrounding area.
The company said it deenergized power distribution lines in those areas but that transmission lines in the same areas remained energized because the forecasted weather conditions weren’t expected to meet the sustained 55 miles per hour wind speeds required for shutoff under company protocol.
The transmission tower where the fallen line was found was 43 years old at the time and had been inspected four times over the previous two years, including an inspection earlier that year as part of PG&E’s Wildfire Safety Inspection Program, company officials said.
The company’s early reports also acknowledged that Cal Fire personnel reported to PG&E a broken jumper on the tower.
Following a “very meticulous and thorough investigation” that took place over the course of nine months, Cal Fire said it determined the fire was caused by electrical transmission lines located northeast of Geyserville and owned and operated by PG&E.
The brief Thursday statement from Cal Fire was general in nature and did not, specifically, mention the failed equipment PG&E had reported on in the fall, although it referred to the same area of origin.
Cal Fire said tinder-dry vegetation and strong winds combined with low humidity and warm temperatures contributed to extreme rates of fire spread. The fire burned 10,000 acres on its first night, according to an original Cal Fire report.
The Kincade fire investigative report has been forwarded to the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office, Cal Fire said.
PG&E said Thursday, “We want our customers and communities to know that safety is our most important responsibility and that we are working hard every day to reduce wildfire risk throughout our service area.”
The company pointed to its ongoing work to reduce wildfire risk through its Community Wildfire Safety Program, which is designed to address the growing threat of extreme weather and wildfires across PG&E’s service area.
Measures include ongoing and expanded efforts related to new grid technology, hardening of the electric system, enhanced vegetation management, and real-time monitoring and situational awareness tools such as high-definition cameras and hundreds of weather stations to better understand how severe weather can impact the system.
The news comes weeks after PG&E announced it had emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and one month after the company pleaded guilty in Butte County Superior Court to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of unlawfully starting a fire for the 2018 Camp fire in Paradise.
Cal Fire also previously found PG&E responsible for the 2015 Butte fire and the October 2017 North Bay fires, which included the Sulphur fire in Lake County. The North Bay fires reportedly remain the costliest series of wildland fires on record.
McGuire said that it’s time for Senate Bill 1312, to expedite desperately needed modernizations and safety measures to curb massive power shutoffs, to become law.
SB 1312 will expedite grid hardening and force PG&E to modernize and fix its system in four years rather than the 12 to 14 years it has proposed to state regulators, McGuire said.
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