Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today issued the following
statement in response to the release of information by the California
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) regarding some of
the October 2017 Northern California wildfires.
The safety of our customers, their families and the communities we serve
is our most important job. The loss of life, homes and businesses in
these extraordinary wildfires is simply heartbreaking, and we remain
focused on helping communities recover and rebuild.
We look forward to the opportunity to carefully review the CAL FIRE
reports to understand the agency’s perspectives.
Based on the information we have so far, we believe our overall
programs met our state’s high standards.
Under PG&E’s industry-leading Vegetation Management Program, we inspect
and monitor every PG&E overhead electric transmission and distribution
line each year, with some locations patrolled multiple times. We also
prune or remove approximately 1.4 million trees annually.
Following Governor Brown’s January 2014 Drought State of Emergency
Proclamation and the California Public Utilities Commission’s Resolution
ESRB-4, PG&E has added enhanced measures to address areas particularly
affected by drought and bark beetles including:
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Increased foot and aerial patrols along power lines in high fire-risk
areas;
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Removed approximately 236,000 dead or dying trees in 2016 and 140,000
dead or dying trees in 2017; these tree removals were in addition to
approximately 30,000 trees removed per year prior to the drought;
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Launched daily aerial fire detection patrols during high fire season
to improve fire spotting and speed of fire response;
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Since 2014, provided $11.4 million to local Fire Safe Councils (FSCs)
for fuel reduction projects in communities; and
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Provided $1.7 million to local FSCs for 28 highly programmable
remote-sensing cameras for critical fire lookout towers.
PG&E meets or exceeds regulatory requirements for pole integrity
management, using a comprehensive database to manage multiple patrol and
inspection schedules of our more than two million poles.
Years of drought, extreme heat and 129 million dead trees have
created a “new normal” for our state, and we must continue to adapt to
meet these challenges.
Extreme weather is increasing the number of large wildfires and the
length of the wildfire season in California. According to CAL FIRE, in
2017 alone, CAL FIRE confronted 7,117 wildfires, compared to an average
of 4,835 during the preceding five years. Five of the 20 most
destructive wildfires in the state’s history burned between October and
December 2017.
In the case of these Northern California wildfires, we saw an
unprecedented confluence of weather-related conditions, including: years
of drought resulting in millions of dead trees, a record-setting wet
winter that spurred the growth of vegetation that then became abundant
fuel after record-setting heat during the summer months, very low
humidity and very high winds.
The state, first responders and California’s utilities are all in
agreement that we must work together to prevent and respond to wildfires
and enhance climate and infrastructure resiliency.
Following last year’s fires, we are bolstering wildfire prevention and
emergency response efforts, putting in place new and enhanced safety
measures, and doing more over the long term to harden our electric
system to help reduce wildfire risks and to keep our customers safe.
We want to work together to share information, provide resources and
help our customers and communities prepare for and stay safe during
extreme weather events. This challenge requires us all to come together
in order to be successful. We need to look at the full range of
solutions. These should include utility practices as well as:
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Forest management to reduce fuel;
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Better management of building in the wildland urban interface;
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Fire-resistant building codes;
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Defensible space practices; and
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Insurance coverage for those homeowners and businesses located in
elevated fire areas.
In addition, we strongly believe this must include addressing
California’s unsustainable policies regarding wildfire liability.
California is one of the only states in the country where the courts
have applied inverse condemnation liability to events associated with
investor-owned utility equipment. This means PG&E could be liable for
property damages and attorneys’ fees even if we followed established
inspection and safety rules.
Liability regardless of negligence undermines the financial health of
the state’s utilities, discourages investment in California and has the
potential to materially impact the ability of utilities to access the
capital markets to fund utility operations and California’s bold clean
energy vision.
Extreme weather events driven by climate change are causing
unprecedented wildfires and creating a “new normal” for our state. We
are committed to advocating with legislative leaders and policymakers
across the state on comprehensive legislative solutions for all
Californians, as we collectively seek to meet the challenge of climate
change, and position the California economy for success.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E
Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas
and electric energy companies in the United States. Based in San
Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of
the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and
Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/
and pge.com/news.
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