Oct. 10 -- Sagging PG&E power lines that whipped together in high winds unleashed the lethal Cascade Fire in Yuba County, one of several firestorms that scorched the North Bay Wine Country and nearby regions last year, state investigators said Tuesday.
The fire started on the evening of Oct. 8, 2017 and burned 9,989 acres, destroyed 264 structures, killed four people and injured one firefighter.
But PG&E may not face any financial liabilities from this and other firestorms — even if the utility’s equipment caused the blazes. That’s the potential effect of an upcoming state law, denounced by critics as a PG&E bailout, that was approved by Gov. Jerry Brown. The law eases the embattled company’s financial exposure in connection with the deadly wildfires.
The new law also paves a smoother path for PG&E to saddle its customers with higher monthly power bills, depending on how the state Public Utilities Commission exercises oversight of the company, or what sorts of costs and expenses PG&E and other utility behemoths seek to recover and pass along to their customers.
“A high wind event in conjunction with the power line sag on two conductors caused the lines to come into contact, which created an electrical arc,” the state’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire, said.
The sagging PG&E lines caused hot or molten materials to tumble into tinder dry fuel below, triggering the firestorm, Cal Fire said.
San Francisco-based PG&E said in a prepared release that it is undertaking measures to reduce wildfire threats, including removal of dangerous vegetation.
“We look forward to the opportunity to carefully review the Cal Fire report to understand the agency’s perspectives,” PG&E said in the release.
Cal Fire didn’t discover any negligence on PG&E’s part in the Cascade Fire.
The Yuba County District Attorney’s Office decided not to pursue — for now — any criminal charges against PG&E, the office said Tuesday.
PG&E inspected the two lines that slapped together, as well as sites below and near the lines on Sept. 22, 2017, just weeks before the inferno erupted. Yet the PG&E inspectors failed to detect anything questionable.
“The (PG&E) inspection record states that no abnormal conditions were found during the inspection,” Yuba County District Attorney Patrick McGrath stated in a prepared release.
It wasn’t clear, investigators said, how the electrical lines came to sag to the extent that they did, and it wasn’t known if the sagging condition violated state PUC regulations.
“A negligent act that is aggravated, reckless, or flagrant” is one of the key conditions, under California law, for criminal negligence, according to the Yuba County prosecutors. “Ordinary carelessness, inattention, or mistaken judgement does not rise to criminal negligence.”
Although PG&E’s equipment triggered the blaze, prosecutors decided that a jury couldn’t be persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt that PG&E had acted in a criminally negligent fashion.
“Prosecutors are ethically obligated not to proceed with a criminal investigation and no criminal charges have been filed,” the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office stated. “This office reserves the right to review any additional information that may be submitted to it prior to the expiration of the criminal statute of limitations.”
With the Cascade Fire results in, state investigators have now determined PG&E equipment caused 17 wildfires last fall, including 12 of the deadly North Bay infernos. Of the 17 fire incidents, state investigators have alleged PG&E violated laws requiring proper maintenance in 11 instances.
All told, the Northern California infernos of October 2017 killed 44 people, cost $14.5 billion, including $11 billion in property losses and $1.5 billion in firefighting expenses, destroyed 8,900 building and torched 245,000 acres. An estimated 150 individual lawsuits have been filed against PG&E. In April, dozens of insurance companies sued PG&E in connection with the blazes.
Still under review: the lethal Tubbs Fire that originated in Sonoma County. The Tubbs Fire is the most destructive wildfire in California history, causing an estimated $1.2 billion in damage and had a total cost of $1.3 billion, including $100 million in fire suppression expenses. At one point, that wildfire was burning simultaneously in eight counties. The Tubbs inferno killed 22 people, scorched part of Santa Rosa and destroyed five percent of that city’s housing stock.
“Cal Fire investigators continue to investigate the Tubbs Fire and will release the report once it is completed,” the state agency said.
In 2010, PG&E became a convicted felon for crimes the utility committed before and after a fatal natural gas explosion that killed eight and destroyed a San Bruno neighborhood.
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