PG&E Equipment Potentially Linked to Raging Dixie Fire

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) on Sunday told California regulators that its equipment may have been involved in the ignition of the now raging Dixie Fire in part of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Northern California.

A PG&E field employee reported a blown fuse on PG&E’s Bucks Creek 1101 12-kV overhead distribution circuit, but could not reach the pole involved until more than nine hours later because of the terrain and a bridge closure, the San Francisco-based combination utility reported to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Eventually, the employee observed two of three fuses blown and what appeared to be a tree leaning into the conductor.

PG&E spokesperson Denny Boyles indicated the information given to the CPUC was “preliminary, and...