PG&E Says Its Equipment Probably Caused Camp Fire

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — PG&E Corp. announced Thursday that its managers believe the utility's equipment will probably be found to have caused the disastrous Camp Fire in Butte County last year. San Francisco-based PG&E said that while Cal Fire is still investigating the cause, "the company believes it is probable that its equipment will be determined to be an ignition point of the 2018 Camp Fire."

The utility made the announcement in a news release and in a required annual financial report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It said it was recording a $10.5 billion loss because of its liability.

PG&E said it based its conclusion on its previously disclosed finding of damage to a high-voltage transmission tower near the Sierra foothills community of Pulga, where the fire started on Nov. 8.

The fire quickly swept southwest through Butte County in dry and windy conditions, killing 88 people and burning 153,336 acres. Nearly the entire city of Paradise was destroyed.

As it had previously disclosed, PG&E said that an outage occurred on a transmission line in Pulga 15 minutes before the start of Camp Fire was reported at 6:30 a.m. A PG&E aerial patrol that afternoon discovered that a suspension insulator had separated from an arm on the transmission tower.

The utility also told the SEC that it was adding a $1.5 billion loss to its previously estimated $2.5 billion loss for fires in the North Bay in 2017.

PG&E is currently in Chapter 11 financial reorganization proceedings in federal bankruptcy court because of its liability for the fires.

The company said the total $14.5 billion liability recorded thus far "reflects the lower end of the range of estimated losses the company faces from such wildfires" and that the full liability may exceed $30 billion.

By Bay City News Service