Pacific Gas and Electric (NYSE:PCG) and Southern California Edison (NYSE:EIX) each filed incident reports with the California Public Utilities Commission last week indicating their equipment may have been involved in the two largest fires burning statewide.
PG&E said the U.S. Forest Service placed caution tape around the base of a 60-kV transmission pole close to the ignition point of the Mosquito Fire, a 47,000-acre blaze burning mostly out of control in the Sierra Nevada foothills, 50 miles northeast of Sacramento. The fire began near the Oxbow Reservoir in Placer County, where PG&E said it recorded “electrical activity” when the fire started on Sept. 6.
“Thus far, PG&E has observed no damage or abnormal conditions to the pole or our facilities near Oxbow Reservoir [and] has not observed down conductor in the area or any vegetation related issues,” the utility said in a report Thursday to the CPUC. “Our information reflects electrical activity occurred close in time to the report time of the fire. The investigation is ongoing. This information is preliminary.”
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) has not reported any injuries or structural damage from the Mosquito Fire, but the blaze has caused hazardous air pollution in the nearby city of Auburn and threatened rural communities in its path.
More than 400 miles to the south, the Fairview Fire has killed two people and burned more than 28,000 acres, Cal Fire and the Riverside County Fire Department said. The blaze is 53% contained, Cal Fire reported Monday.
SCE filed a report with the CPUC on Sept. 5 saying, “Our information reflects circuit activity occurred close in time to the report time of the fire” at 3:37 p.m. that day near the city of Hemet. “The investigation is ongoing.”
September traditionally marks the start of fire season in California, as autumnal offshore breezes fan vegetation parched by dry summers. The fire season typically continues until rains begin in the late fall in the state’s Mediterranean climate.
SCE and PG&E equipment has been blamed for starting major wildfires in recent fire seasons.
The catastrophic blazes include the Camp Fire, the state’s deadliest wildfire, which was ignited by a broken PG&E transmission line in November 2018, and last year’s Dixie Fire, a nearly 1 million-acre wildland blaze started by a PG&E distribution line.
Government investigators determined that SCE power lines blown together by high winds sparked the 282,000-acre Thomas Fire in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties in December 2017. The largest fire in state history at the time, it killed a firefighter and a civilian. Mud and debris slides in its aftermath killed 21 others when heavy rains drenched fire-scarred mountain slopes, washing away homes and vehicles.
