Wildfires

A Southern California Edison Co. (SCE) power line may have been involved in the start of a wildfire raging in a foothills portion of Orange County, officials at parent company Edison International (EI) said Tuesday. SCE earlier this week told state regulators the 11,000-acre Silverado Fire in Orange County was 5% contained, and there “was…

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) once again has reported to California authorities that its distribution equipment in the far north remote Shasta County may have been involved in the Zogg Fire that has consumed more than 56,000 acres before being 99% contained on Monday.  The utility’s equipment has been traced to at least eight…

California Gov. Gavin Newsom last month signed legislation to turn the biomass from forest waste and dead trees into renewable natural gas (RNG). According to the California Forestry and Fire Protection Department, aka CalFIRE, the state has nearly 150 million dead trees. Studies have pinpointed sources throughout the nation for producing RNG, including woody forest…

California’s investor-owned utilities (IOU), whose infrastructure has caused numerous major wildfires in recent years, are prepared for this year’s fire season, including how planned power outages should limit customer impact, executives told regulators. As two fires were raging in Southern California, utility executives in separate hearings over the past week said infrastructure had been hardened…

PG&E Corp. and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. executives during the second quarter earnings call, the first in 18 months, illustrated the heavy lifting ahead to reduce debt, withstand another wildfire season and complete a reorganization in the aftermath of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Interim CEO Bill Smith during the quarterly call touched on wildfire mitigation…

Southern California Edison Co. (SCE) is facing the current wildfire season with renewed confidence while sweating out the unknowns of the ultimate financial and legal liabilities of separate 2017 and 2018 wildfires in which the utility has been implicated. Parent company Edison International CEO Pedro Pizarro spoke about both sides of the issue during a…

A Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) transmission line in the Northern California wine country caused the 77,000-acre Kincade Fire last year, according to an investigation by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Kincade blaze was caused by PG&E’s electrical transmission lines northeast of Geyserville in Sonoma County, according to the investigation. …

Following a mandate in the state’s wildfire relief law, California’s Wildfire Safety Advisory Board has adopted utility guidelines for next year, stressing closer alignment of utility mitigation plans and state oversight authorities. Striving for a “holistic approach” to wildfire mitigation, the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) advisory board action fulfills provisions of a 2019 wildfire…

Late last month the CEO for bankruptcy mired Pacific Gas and Electric Co.(PG&E) told skeptical state regulators that the giant combination utility must make extensive fundamental changes in how it operates and its Chapter 11 reorganization plan is focused on that long-sought transformation.