According to a new report by California Public Utilities Commission issued on Monday, PG&E equipment issues may have caused the Dixie Fire, which has burned thousands of acres near the site of the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest in California history.
A PG&E troubleman responded to an outage on July 13 Cresta Dam off of Highway 70 in the Feather River Canyon.
Upon arrival, he "observed from a distance what he thought was a blown fuse uphill from his location."
Once he was able to reach the blown fuse, he found two of three fuses blown and what "appeared to him to be a healthy green tree leaning into a conductor, which was still intact and suspended on the poles."
A fire had started at the base of the tree.
The troubleman reported the fire, and his supervisor called 911. Authorities were already aware of the fire and responding. CAL FIRE air support arrived on scene that evening and began dropping fire retardant and water.
The Dixie Fire was burning through more than 30,000 acres of Butte and Plumas counties as of Monday morning, and was 15% contained.
"It's very steep and very rugged," said CAL FIRE Operations Chief Tony Burnell. He said that although the Dixie Fire is near Paradise, it's not as severe as the Camp Fire was. "It doesn't have as much fuel to burn as hot or as fast as it did."
PG&E is cooperating with CAL FIRE’s investigation.
The report is preliminary.
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