PG&E gives details on tower near Camp Fire spark

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. provided to state regulators a detailed description of the transmission tower that plaintiffs in lawsuits claim started the Camp Fire.

One plaintiffs' attorney called the letter an "admission of liability."

"They are basically saying exactly what we said," commented plaintiffs' attorney Michael Danko of Danko Meredith, who filed a lawsuit against the state's largest utility filed in San Francisco Superior Court last week.

PG&E noted at the end of the letter, which supplements information provided to the California Public Utilities Commission by the utility on Nov. 16, that the cause of the fire remains under investigation and the findings are preliminary.

"The cause of these incidents has not been determined and may not be fully understood until additional information becomes available, including information that can only be obtained through examination and testing of the equipment retained by CAL FIRE," wrote the utility's senior director of regulatory relations, Meredith Allen.

The Camp Fire spanned over 150,000 acres in Butte County, destroying over 18,000 structures and resulting in 85 deaths. A PG&E employee noticed flames in the vicinity of the transmission tower in question and reported it to emergency services, according to the letter.

According to Danko, an aerial patrol then identified the connection to the insulator was detached. He said this allegedly led to an energized line touching a metal wire, igniting dry vegetation below the tower,

The letter also referenced "wear" on the connection point between the insulator and an arm of the transmission tower.

"I think that this letter is a pretty clear admission of what caused the fire," said plaintiffs' attorney Dario de Ghetaldi of Corey, Luzaich, de Ghetaldi, & Riddle LLP. Ahad v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co., 18-CGC-571888 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed Dec. 6, 2018).

"PG&E's failure to properly design, construct, inspect, and maintain the tower led to damage to the tower's extension which in turn brought the uninsulated jumper into contact with the steel tower," Danko wrote in his clients' complaint.

The lawsuit is one of a number of complaints filed against the utility over the Camp Fire.

Plaintiffs' attorneys attributed the utility's submission of supplemental information to state regulators to U.S. District Judge William Alsup's order asking for an "accurate and complete statement" of any connection between the utility and the cause and reporting of the Camp Fire as a part of its probation for causing the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion.

"[The order] forced PG&E to come clean as to the cause and origin of the fire extraordinarily early in the process," de Ghetaldi said. "We're still waiting for PG&E to make similar admissions with respect to the North Bay fires."

Alsup's four questions in the order include inquiries regarding potential parole violations and safety improvements implemented since 2017 when probation was imposed.

The San Francisco federal court judge also asked state Attorney General Xavier Becerra to advise the court on the standard to which the utility should be held if it committed a crime in failing to maintain its infrastructure before the Camp Fire.

PG&E and the state attorney general have until Dec. 31 to respond to Alsup's inquiries.