The finding by state investigators this week that a Pacific Gas and Electric line sparked last year’s immense Dixie Fire arrived at an awkward time for the beleaguered utility, which is hoping to be released from five years of federal probation later this month.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Tuesday its investigation had found that a tree falling onto a PG&E distribution line ignited the nearly 1-million-acre wildfire, the second largest in state history, which destroyed more than 1,300 structures and killed one person.  

“The Dixie Fire investigative report has been forwarded to the Butte County District Attorney’s Office” for possible criminal prosecution, Cal Fire said in a news release.

The finding was not a surprise. PG&E said soon after the fire began in mid-July that its line may have sparked the fire that burned for more than three months across the northern Sierra Nevada. (See PG&E Expects $1B in Costs from Dixie Fire.)

“As we shared in our public statement in Chico in July after the start of the Dixie Fire, a large tree struck one of our normally operating lines,” PG&E said Tuesday. “This tree was one of more than 8 million trees within strike distance to PG&E lines.”

Cal Fire rendered its conclusion one day after federal Judge William Alsup said in a hearing that he would consider extending PG&E’s probation beyond its current end date of Jan. 25 if federal prosecutors ask him to. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is expected to decide this week whether to file such a request, and Alsup scheduled a hearing on the matter for Monday.

Cal Fire’s findings regarding the Dixie Fire could weigh into a decision by the judge, who has been one of PG&E’s harshest critics.

In November, Alsup found that PG&E had likely violated its probation for felonies related to the 2010 San Bruno gas explosion by starting the 2019 Kincade Fire and the 2020 Zogg Fire. Cal Fire determined a tree that fell on a PG&E line started the Zogg Fire. The cause of the Kincade Fire remains under investigation. (See PG&E Likely Violated Probation, Judge Finds.)

County prosecutors have filed charges against PG&E in both cases, while the utility has denied it was criminally liable for either fire.

Also in November, the independent monitor appointed by the court to oversee PG&E during its probation said the utility needs to make substantial improvements in its efforts to prevent wildfires through vegetation management and grid hardening.

“Multiple years of horrific wildfires” started by PG&E equipment showed “its progress regarding wildfire mitigation obviously has been inadequate, and we doubt anyone would seriously dispute that, given the ongoing and profound safety issues in that area of operations,” the law firm Kirkland & Ellis, which the court appointed monitor, wrote in its report to Alsup.  

Fires started by PG&E equipment that failed or was struck by trees included the 2018 Camp Fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise and killed at least 84 people.

“Including the Camp Fire fatalities, over 110 people have died as a result of wildfires where CAL FIRE has determined PG&E equipment was involved since the San Bruno incident,” the monitor wrote.

Its reviews of PG&E safety practices showed the utility had missed thousands of dangerous trees near its lines and failed to detect worn or broken equipment. PG&E still has a vast backlog of problems to fix from a 2019 inspection of 685,000 distribution poles, 50,000 transmission structures and 200 substations in high-fire threat districts, the monitor noted.

“There are over 500,000 tags from 2019 to present that remain unresolved to date,” it said.

The monitor also expressed skepticism about PG&E’s plans to bury 10,000 acres of power lines in fire-prone areas. CEO Patti Poppe announced the effort in July during the same media event in which she discussed the utility’s possible role in starting the Dixie Fire. (See PG&E Proposes Undergrounding 10K Miles of Distribution.)

“The Monitor team applauds PG&E’s commitment to undergrounding to mitigate wildfire risk but notes that some serious questions and issues remain regarding PG&E’s implementation of the undergrounding initiative,” it said.

The utility did not give a timeframe for the work but has plans to underground just 66 miles of lines in 2021 and a total of 327 miles over the next three years, the monitor said.

Even if greatly increases its efforts over a 20-year period, “there is substantial skepticism among PG&E field personnel that PG&E can feasibly underground more than 500 miles per year using current technology and hardening methodologies,” the monitor said.