Possible links between utility companies and LA wildfires under investigation

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: ABC News

January 13, 2025, 10:07 PM


As the Los Angeles area braces for another wind system to move in this week, and emergency responders there continue to battle wildfires that erupted last week, investigations are underway to try and determine what might have caused some of the most destructive fires in California's history.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has now taken the investigative lead in the Palisades Fire, where over 23,000 acres have now burned, and aerial imagery shows approximately 5,000 structures damaged or destroyed as of Monday.

Investigators are looking into possible causes -- including arson or the potential rekindling of a fire in that same area that had been started by fireworks on New Year's Eve, according to fire officials.

One possible theory that has neither been substantiated nor ruled out as of Monday, according to officials, is the involvement of transmission lines or electric facilities in inciting any of the LA County fires.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/officials-investigate-role-utility-companies-la-fires/story?id=117631794

[Richard D]

1. Blame anything and anyone...

... Other than human caused climate change.

[LauraInLA]

8. Climate change is definitely the underlying issue, but PGE and other utilities have absolutely

failed to maintain and upgrade power lines across CA in ways that lead to fires. It is really crazy — they say they don’t have the money to fix the problem, so then they have to pay huge fines when the Camp Fire happens. That fine is paid by their ratepayers, who see increased monthly charges. The utility is basically deemed too big to fail — if they declared bankruptcy and another company took over, I can’t imagine the size and duration of the disruption. I’m very grateful we have a municipal utility company, though it certainly has its problems.

[Lulu KC]

9. PGE did declare bankruptcy

--but apparently came out of it. I believe they paid all their settlements for the Camp Fire but what else didn't get paid? I wonder. (I really don't grasp bankruptcy. It has always sounded so final but that is obviously no longer the case.)

[LauraInLA]

10. I guess my point is that when they file for bankruptcy, the state will necessarily make them whole,

no matter how many times it happens — it is an enormous costly mess, but it would be even more so and/or would wreak political havoc if someone else had to take over. I don’t know what the solution is, but PGE is allowed to get away with slow-walking fixes and causing wildfires.

[Lulu KC]

11. Indeed n/t

[endgenocide]

2. Almost impossible to prevent

It is possible the fire was cause by a "sparking" power line. I worked as a protection engineer for 35 years designing, setting and testing the devices that protect power distribution equipment. If a power line flashes or arcs that means there was a fault and equipment that protects the line would automatically de-energize that portion of the circuit to clear the fault in milliseconds. It's possible that it could arc again on re-close but these things usually only re-close a couple times. If the line cleared the Utility will certainly have that data. The land out there is dry from climate change so any spark from a line fault could cause a fire and the winds turn it into a disaster. The only real way to prevent that is to de-energize the lines for months at a time during fire season which is unrealistic. So I'm not sure how you hold the power company liable?

[Lulu KC]

4. I don't remember the deets, but

I know PGE had to make sizeable settlements for the Camp Fire that destroyed Paradise, CA. I wonder how this situation is different.

[LauraInLA]

6. As I recall, PGE was found liable for the Camp Fire because they had failed to maintain and do upkeep

on their lines in the forested/rural areas.

[LauraInLA]

7. From the LATimes: Regulators criticized Edison's wildfire safety actions months before deadly Eaton fire

I’d be really interested to hear your opinion about this because of your experience and expertise. Is PGE more or less a scapegoat?

—-
Less than three months before the Eaton fire, state utility safety regulators questioned whether Southern California Edison’s repairs to its aging transmission lines were holding up.

The utility’s visual inspections of splices in its transmission lines sometimes failed to find dangerous conditions, officials found.

The company says its work has reduced the risk that its equipment might cause wildfires by more than 85%. It said its own analysis showed its equipment didn’t start the Eaton fire.


https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-01-14/regulators-criticized-edisons-wildfire-safety-actions-months-before-deadly-eaton-fire

[EarthFirst]

3. Kicking the climate change can further down the road... nt

[IronLionZion]

5. When it's a lot of fires in different places

maybe it's time to acknowledge the hot dry winds of climate change. All sorts of things can cause a spark that ignites dry vegetation. There are climate conditions that escalate that into large devastating wildfires.

[pfitz59]

12. Solarize everything

Get off the grid. I jest. Sort of.