California’s PG&E admits its equipment may have ignited fire

LOS ANGELES — California’s biggest utility admitted its electrical equipment may have ignited a wildfire burning in wine country Friday, despite blackouts imposed across the region to prevent blazes. Meanwhile, a wind-whipped fire destroyed homes near Los Angeles.

More than 50,000 people were under evacuation orders in the Santa Clarita area north of Los Angeles as hot, dry Santa Ana winds howling at 50 mph drove the flames into neighborhoods. At least six homes were burned. No immediate injuries were reported.

In Northern California, a blaze near the Sonoma County wine country town of Geyserville burned 49 buildings and prompted evacuation orders for some 2,000 people.

#KincadeFire off John Kincade Road and Burned Mountain Road, northeast of Geyserville in Sonoma County is 21,900 acres and 5% contained. Evacuations in place. https://t.co/LwmCR66f6X pic.twitter.com/ouxqhnKpFW

— CAL FIRE (@CAL_FIRE) October 25, 2019

The fire burned at least 25 square miles, whipped up by the strong winds that had prompted Pacific Gas & Electric to impose sweeping blackouts affecting a half-million people in Northern and Central California. Power was restored to most people by Thursday evening, PG&E said.

The power shut-offs were imposed after PG&E electrical equipment was blamed for several blazes in recent years that killed scores of people and burned thousands of homes.

However, PG&E said Thursday it didn’t de-energize a 230,000-volt transmission line near Geyserville that malfunctioned minutes before the fire erupted. The company reported finding a “broken jumper” wire on a transmission tower Wednesday night.

PG&E CEO Bill Johnson said it was too soon to know if the faulty equipment ignited the fire. He said the tower had been inspected four times in the past two years and appeared to have been in excellent condition.

Transmission lines still energized

In shutting off the electricity, PG&E cut power to the distribution lines that supply homes, but not to its long-distance transmission lines.

In Southern California, firefighters on the ground and in the air struggled to protect homes surrounded by trees and brush.

In some places, they failed. As hot embers flew, subdivision homes and rural ranch properties were damaged or destroyed in the Canyon Country area of Santa Clarita and in nearby Castaic.

Alejandro Corrales tearfully watched her home burn on a ridge in Canyon Country, taking with it her mother’s ashes, other belongings and possibly a pen full of pet sheep.

Sticks of fire

“I’m literally seeing sticks and fire of what used to be our home,” she told KCBS-TV.

“Everything in the house is gone,” Corrales said. “The panels on one of the pens where we have some rescued sheep was too hot for my daughter to open, and so she couldn’t let them out. … So I’m probably sure that we lost them, too.”

Some residents tried to fight the blaze with garden hoses. People rushed to rescue dozens of horses, donkeys, goats, a pig and an emu.

Officials said a firefighting helicopter was grounded after its windshield was damaged by a collision with a bird.

High winds through Friday

The high winds were expected to persist through Friday. Southern California Edison, which shut off electricity to more than 31,000 customers on Thursday, was considering additional power cuts to more than 386,000.

While the high winds in Northern California had died down by Friday, they were expected to pick up over the weekend, with gusts of 40 to 60 mph in many places, and PG&E warned it may black out an even larger region.

PG&E chief meteorologist Scott Strenfel said Northern California could be in for the strongest offshore winds in years.