By Jason Fordney

Trees contacting Pacific Gas and Electric distribution lines caused four Northern California wildfires last year that burned about 9,400 acres, state investigators said.

After “extensive and thorough investigations,” the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) determined PG&E lines sparked the LaPorte Fire in Butte County (which burned 8,400 acres), the McCourtney Fire in Nevada County (76 acres), the Lobo Fire in Nevada County (821 acres) and the Honey Fire in Butte County (76 acres).

Tree limbs contacting lines caused the Lobo and Honey fires, and a tree falling onto power lines caused the McCourtney Fire, CalFire said in statement. The LaPorte Fire occurred after branches fell onto a PG&E power line.

While CalFire found no violation of state law related to the La Porte Fire, the other three fires were allegedly due to the utility not adequately trimming vegetation near its lines.

“The McCourtney, Lobo [and] Honey investigations have been referred to the appropriate county district attorney’s offices for review,” CalFire said.

The agency said the fires, which were among the smaller of the more than 170 fires that burned about 245,000 acres in Northern California last October, were the first to be investigated. The four fires caused structural damage but injured no civilians or firefighters.

Wildfire liability has become a major issue for PG&E as it fights civil lawsuits and lobbies the state for a change in laws related to blazes stemming from utility equipment. The utility, as well as Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, said they cannot be held solely responsible for increasingly high-risk fire conditions, including climate change and drought. (See Profits Down, PG&E Fights Wildfire Liability, Edison International Presses Wildfire Cost Recovery.) Aside from civil lawsuits faced by the utilities, the California Public Utilities Commission has denied SDG&E recovery for some wildfire costs.

Last month, state Sen. William Dodd (D) introduced a bill (SB 1088) that would allow utilities to recover wildfire costs if they conform to state-regulated safety plans. (See Calif. Legislation Shields Utilities from Wildfire Costs.) The Senate Appropriations Committee issued a “do pass” recommendation for the legislation on May 25. The bill was recently amended with provisions requiring that utility safety plans include a program to evaluate technological solutions such as distributed energy and allowing a utility to contract with a distributed energy operator if the operator meets insurance requirements to cover direct damages caused by failure of the distributed facilities to comply with contractual terms.