US judge questions PG&E about circuit not shut off in storm

A federal judge in San Francisco, apparently dissatisfied with PG&E's answers about why a circuit suspected of causing a deadly Solano County fire was not shut off, demanded more answers from the company Thursday.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup asked five pages of questions about a response filed Monday by Reid J. Schar, a Jenner & Block LLP partner who represents the utility.

Alsup asked the utility for answers under oath by Nov. 18.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is investigating the cause of the fire, which started Sept. 27 and killed four people while destroying more than 200 structures over 16 days.

Cal Fire has not determined whether the utility's equipment played a role in starting the blaze.

"PG&E has not determined what role, if any, its equipment may have had in the ignition of the Zogg Fire," Schar wrote.

The question revolves around the Girvan Circuit, which is suspected of starting the fire.

Schar wrote PG&E's public safety power shut-off [PSPS] models did not identify that circuit as one that should be de-energized "based on the facts and weather conditions available."

Alsup responded by asking for detailed information about how the utility's probability model assessed the risks on the Girvan Distribution Line and in Shasta County in the days before the fire.

"Why isn't the PSPS decision made by asking this simple question: Is the line safe to conduct power during high winds? If yes, then PG&E would leave it on. If not, then PG&E would turn it off during the storm," Alsup wrote.

The judge questioned the utility's methodology and wanted to know if it ever de-energized a line even if it had been cleared of trees and limbs.

"The balancing of factors approach that PG&E uses, according to its generalized description, leaves open the possibility that a line will remain powered up even though it's unsafe to do so in a windstorm (due to the presence of hazard trees or threatening limbs not yet fixed by PG&E)," he added.

Alsup also asked for photographs of a gray pine tree he described as "looming in the direction of the transmission line" and whether it was trimmed or removed before the fire.

The judge oversees PG&E's criminal probation stemming from the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion and is responsible for the utility's creation of its public safety power shut-off program. U.S. v. PG&E Co., 14-CR0175 (N.D. Cal., filed April 1, 2014).

Alsup has been consistently critical of PG&E's handling of wildfire dangers as the judge in charge of the utility's response.