SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ In a report filed with state regulators Tuesday, Pacific Gas & Electric Company offered little explanation about why it failed to shut off power in Butte County before the deadliest wildfire in California history.
The utility giant, under pressure to stop its power lines from sparking wildfires, adopted a plan this fall to turn off power during high-risk weather conditions. Days before the Camp fire killed at least 88 people, PG&E warned customers that it might cut electricity in Paradise and other fire-prone areas of the Sierra Foothills on Nov. 8. But the company ultimately canceled plans for the shut-off.
"The forecasted conditions didn't meet the criteria to initiate a Public Safety Power Shutoff," said James Noonan, a spokesman for PG&E.
The California Public Utilities Commission requires utilities to file reports 10 days after customers are warned about or experience planned shut-offs. But a resolution adopted by the agency suggests a utility is only required to provide an explanation if it cuts power.
The CPUC did not respond to questions about the policy Tuesday.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation and it's unclear if a planned outage would have prevented the devastation. PG&E reported problems with a high-voltage transmission line and a less powerful circuit shortly before and after the fire started.
PG&E's 14-page report says it began sending shut-off warnings on Nov. 6 to 70,000 customers located in nine counties, including Butte, "where the forecasted weather and wildfire potential indicated a high likelihood of impacts to the company's equipment and facilities."
The company said it adjusted the warning to about 63,000 customers in eight counties on Nov. 7 because weather conditions "were nearing but not reaching forecasted levels that would warrant temporarily turning off power for customer safety."
PG&E did not offer any further explanation in the report for its lack of action overnight on Nov. 7 or early Nov. 8. A weather station near Paradise clocked wind gusts of 52 mph hours before the fire was reported at 6:29 a.m.
Hours after the fire began, winds decreased and conditions no longer met the company's criteria for a shut-off by 1 p.m. on Nov. 8, PG&E said in the report.
"Based on the forecasted information, PG&E no longer anticipated a possible need to de-energize," the report states. "PG&E immediately informed all stakeholders of the change in conditions and that no lines would be proactively de-energized."
The CPUC is expected to review the report and determine if an investigation is warranted.
In other questions about PG&E's actions, a federal judge on Tuesday asked the company to explain its role in the Camp fire and whether the utility may have violated the terms of its criminal probation from the San Bruno pipeline blast.
Nearly two years ago, a U.S. District Court judge sentenced PG&E to probation and ordered the company to pay a $3 million fine after an underground pipeline burst in the San Francisco Bay Area neighborhood and killed eight residents. As part of the probation, PG&E was barred from committing any local, state or federal crimes.
A judge issued a new order Tuesday giving PG&E and an independent monitor until the end of the year to explain its involvement in the Camp fire and other California wildfires since early 2017.
