PG&E power lines caused the destructive Kincade Fire in Sonoma County in October 2019, state fire investigators reported on Thursday.
The wildfire burned 78,000 acres, destroyed 374 structures, and caused four injuries that weren’t life-threatening, the state’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CAL Fire, said Thursday.
The results of the state investigation were revealed just a few days after PG&E emerged from a $58 billion bankruptcy triggered by a mountain of debts, including liabilities linked to a string of lethal Northern California wildfires that PG&E caused in 2015, 2017, and 2018.
“CAL Fire has determined that the Kincade Fire was caused by electrical transmission lines owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric located northeast of Geyserville,” state fire officials said.
“Tinder-dry vegetation and strong winds combined with low humidity and warm temperatures contributed to extreme rates of fire spread” in the case of the Kincade Fire, CAL Fire stated.
Alarmed by the string of deadly wildfires, coming years after a fatal gas explosion in San Bruno that PG&E caused, state government officials have approved contingency plans to be able to oust PG&E as the region’s primary provider of electricity and gas services.
A new law would enable California to replace PG&E with Golden State Energy, a non-profit utility if it appears that PG&E is struggling with maintenance and safety.
“California must have a backstop in place to protect ratepayers and our state if PG&E does not meet the strict requirements for emerging from bankruptcy and for becoming a safe, reliable, and sustainable energy provider,” state Sen. Jerry Hill, author of the bill, SB 350, said earlier this month soon after the legislation was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
PG&E hopes that the end of the bankruptcy proceeding and what the utility says is a heightened attentiveness to safety will mark a new chapter for the embattled utility.
In May of this year, the state Public Utilities Commission imposed a $1.97 billion penalty on PG&E for its role in causing the wildfires of 2017 and 2018. That came just five years after a 2015 decision by the PUC to impose a $1.5 billion penalty on PG&E for causing the San Bruno explosion. Both of those penalties were, at the time they were levied, the largest regulatory punishments ever imposed on an American utility.
On June 16, PG&E entered the grim pantheon of America’s deadliest corporations by pleading guilty to killing 84 people in the Camp Fire in Butte County in November 2018.
In the case of the Kincade Fire, the state findings might not be the end of the investigation into the destructive wildfire near Geyserville.
“The Kincade Fire investigative report has been forwarded to the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office,” CAL Fire stated.
“As I said a year ago and I continue to say now, I have great respect for the men and women who work hard every day to keep the lights on in California – but the hard truth is that PG&E needs to be broken up,” noted Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) in an official response to the determination by CAL FIRE that the Kincade fire was caused by electrical transmission lines owned and operated by PG&E.
“PG&E has become too big and has failed us too many times – from the San Bruno explosion and cover-up, the massive wildfires of 2017 and 2018, the debacle of a response to untenable power shutoffs, and now this: confirmation that PG&E is responsible for the devastation of the Kincade Fire that burned 77,578 acres and destroyed 374 structures,” added McGuire.
“In the meantime, it’s time for Senate Bill 1312, to expedite desperately needed modernizations and safety measures to curb massive power shutoffs, to become law,” he said adding that SB 1312 will expedite grid hardening and force PG&E to modernize and fix its system in four years rather than the 12-14 years it has proposed to state regulators.
PG&E Response
In a press release issued following the CAL FIRE announcement, the embattled utility officials noted, “We appreciate all the heroic efforts of the first responders who fought the 2019 Kincade Fire, helped local citizens evacuate and made sure no one perished in the fire.”
“We are aware of CAL FIRE’s news release stating that PG&E facilities caused the fire. At this time, we do not have access to CAL FIRE’s investigative report or the evidence it has collected. We look forward to reviewing both at the appropriate time,” the added that they want customers and communities to know that safety is their most important responsibility and that the company’s staff is working hard every day to reduce wildfire risk throughout their service area.
PG&E officials also pointed to their ongoing work to reduce wildfire risk including wildfire safety actions and programs described in PG&E’s 2020 Wildfire Mitigation Plan
Officials added that ongoing and expanded efforts include new grid technology, hardening of the electric system, enhanced vegetation management, and real-time monitoring and situational awareness tools such as high-definition cameras and hundreds of weather stations to better understand how severe weather can impact the system.
—Ariel Carmona Jr. contributed to this report.
