Pacific Gas and Electric Co. failed to properly inspect and maintain the high-voltage power line that started the Camp Fire amid systemic problems at the utility that caused it to miss a chance to avert the historic disaster, state regulatory officials have determined.
Crews examined the Butte County transmission line from the ground and sky in recent years but had not conducted a detailed climbing inspection of the aging tower located at the fire’s origin point since at least 2001, according to safety and enforcement staff at the California Public Utilities Commission.
The regulatory officials said a climbing inspection should have occurred and might have revealed the presence of a worn hook that broke on Nov. 8, 2018, leading to the ignition of a fire that killed 85 people and destroyed nearly 19,000 buildings. “Timely replacement” of the hook “could have prevented ignition of the Camp Fire,” commission staff said in a recently revealed report.
Staff found that the company’s botched oversight of the tower implicated in the Camp Fire was not an isolated problem, “but rather indicative of an overall pattern of inadequate inspection and maintenance of PG&E’s transmission facilities.”
The commission report details the findings of agency staff who investigated PG&E’s connection to the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. They submitted their findings while asking agency leaders to include the Camp Fire in a proceeding already established to consider fines and sanctions because of the 2017 fires. The full five-member commission will likely need to vote on any related punishments imposed on PG&E as a result of the inquiries.
In all, agency staff recorded 12 violations of agency rules and regulations as part of their Camp Fire findings, which were first reported by NBC Bay Area.
PG&E said in a statement that it accepts the conclusion of commission safety staff that the company’s transmission lines started the Camp Fire, “reaffirming” prior findings of Cal Fire.
“Without question, the loss of life, homes and businesses is heartbreaking. The tragedy in Butte County on Nov. 8, 2018, will never be forgotten,” spokesman Paul Doherty said in an email. “We remain deeply sorry about the role our equipment had in this tragedy, and we apologize to all those impacted by the devastating Camp Fire.”
Violations found by the utilities commission staff relate to the Caribou-Palermo transmission line that started the Camp Fire as well as a lower-voltage PG&E distribution line that was the source of a second start to the blaze. The second ignition was overtaken by the first one, according to state investigators.
Taken together, the violations described by the commission report “indicate a pattern of neglect,” Steven Weissman, a former administrative law judge at the commission, said in an email. The most significant finding, Weissman said, is the report’s conclusion that the company did not have an adequate inspection and maintenance program across its transmission line system.
“That in and of itself suggests a pervasive problem with potentially major consequences,” Weissman said. “It is also something that can’t be fixed overnight.”
During an aerial inspection of the Caribou-Palermo line in September 2018, PG&E crew saw a faulty piece on a tower close to the one that would start the Camp Fire three months later, the regulatory report found. The company flagged the condition as a problem that required fixing within one year but it should have been made an urgent priority, according to the report.
PG&E also performed climbing inspections of some towers on the Caribou-Palermo line — but not the one where the Camp Fire started — between Sept. 19 and Nov. 5, 2018. But the company used an outdated inspection form while conducting that review, regulatory staff found. After the Camp Fire, PG&E found 29 high-priority problems on the transmission line, which the company has permanently shut down.
PG&E and its parent company filed for bankruptcy protection less than three months after the Camp Fire, citing liabilities from that disaster and the 2017 fires that could exceed $30 billion. A new state law is pushing the company to resolve the case by June 30.
Also looming for PG&E is the prospect of criminal charges brought by prosecutors in Butte County, whose investigation of the Camp Fire remains ongoing.
J.D. Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris
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Camp Fire failure part of PG&E’s ‘pattern’ of poor maintenance, regulators say - San Francisco Chronicle
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