More than 8,000 wildfires have burned nearly 4 million acres in California this year, but there’s little indication that utility equipment played a role in starting major blazes.
That differs markedly from the last three years, when equipment belonging to Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric was blamed for starting catastrophic fires including the Camp Fire, the state’s deadliest and most destructive blaze, in November 2018. (PG&E says its large-scale public safety power shutoffs this year have helped avoid catastrophes.)
So far, the only 2020 summer wildfire in which power lines might be implicated is the Bobcat Fire burning in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles.
A Sept. 15 report by SCE to the California Public Utilities Commission said the utility experienced a line fault at approximately the same time and in the same area the Bobcat Fire started. However, the utility said a fire camera had recorded smoke from the blaze shortly before its relay tripped.
“The Bobcat Fire was reported in the vicinity of Cogswell Reservoir/Dam in the Angeles National Forest on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2020, at 12:21 p.m.” SCE told the CPUC. “The Jarvis 12-kV circuit out of Dalton Substation experienced a relay operation at 12:16 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2020. The Mount Wilson East camera captured the initial stages of the fire, with the first observed smoke as early as approximately 12:10 p.m., prior to the relay operation.”
The investigation of the Bobcat Fire is being conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, which on Sept. 15 “requested that SCE remove a specific section of SCE overhead conductor in the vicinity of Cogswell Dam,” the utility reported.
“While USFS has not alleged that SCE facilities were involved in the ignition of the Bobcat Fire, SCE submits this report in an abundance of caution given USFS’ interest in retaining SCE facilities in connection with its investigation,” it told the CPUC.
Lightning storms on Aug. 17-18 ignited massive wildfires, including the 980,000-acre August Complex, the largest fire in state history, USFS and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) reported.
The August storms also started three more of the five largest fires in state history: the SCU Lightning Complex, LNU Lightning Complex and the North Complex, all in Northern California, the agencies said.
The Creek Fire, in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Central California, rounds out the top five fires, all of which occurred this year, Cal Fire said. Its cause, and the cause of other major blazes, remains under investigation.
California still has at least another month of high fire risk. In Northern California, the late summer and fall fire season usually lasts until seasonal rains start in November. Major fires have broken out in drier Southern California as late as December in recent years.
“As we enter the fall season, which is known to have the largest wildfires, we want to remind everyone that now is the time to be prepared,” Cal Fire warned residents.