-CalFire firefighter Scott Wit surveys burnt out vehicles near a fallen power line on the side of the road after the Camp fire tore through the area in Paradise, California on Nov. 10, 2018. Josh Edelson / AFP - Getty Images
PG&E definitely linked to cause of Camp fire:
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11-13-18 CHATSWORTH, LOS ANGELES (KABC) --
The cause of the 91,572-acre Woolsey Fire remained under investigation Monday but Southern California Edison reported to a state agency that there was an outage on an electrical circuit near where it started as Santa Ana winds blew through the region….Asked about the Edison report, Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said he had not heard about it. "It wouldn't surprise me" if it turns out that winds caused equipment failure that sparked a fire, he said.
At a Monday morning press conference Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby responded to a question about a possible connection between the electrical outage and the fire. "The cause of this incident is still under investigation," Osby said, "and once that becomes known we will share that with the public.” https://abc7.com/sce-substation-outage-occurred-before-woolsey-fire-reported/4675611/
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7-26-18 Carr fire (Redding, burn 230,000 acres) apparently began with the mechanical failure of a vehicle, fire officials said. https://www.kyma.com/news/national-world/1-killed-in-northern-california-wildfire/773803433
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Klamathon fire (Hornbrook, burnt 38,000 acres) started with illegal debris burn near pot farm.
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State investigators have determined an improperly installed electric livestock fence sparked the County fire (45 miles nw of Sacramento, burnt 90,000 acres) http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-yolo-fire-cause-20180711-story.html
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Mendocino fire complex (459,000 acres burnt) —cause unclear
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8-10-18 A study published in 2017 in the journal PNAS found that, at the national level, debris burning is responsible for 29 percent of wildfires and arson causes 21 percent of fires. Campfires accounted for just five percent, the study found. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/08/news-california-wildfire-arson-human-cause/
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6-8-18 Cal Fire investigators said Friday that equipment owned and operated by PG&E ignited 12 wildfires that raged in hot, dry weather and high winds across Northern California in October, 2017, charring hundreds of square miles in Sonoma County and beyond, destroying thousands of structures and killing 18 people.
The utility was in violation of state code on eight of those fires, failing to clear brush around its lines and properly maintain its power equipment, according to state fire investigators.
Cal Fire found violations in the Norrbom, Partrick, Pythian, Adobe and Pocket fires that burned in Sonoma and Napa counties; the Atlas fire in Napa County; the Sulphur fire in Lake County; and the Blue fire in Humboldt County. The agency forwarded its reports to district attorneys in those jurisdictions for review.
In the other four fires — the Redwood in Mendocino County, Cherokee in Butte County and the 37 and Nuns fires in Sonoma County — flames were ignited by power equipment but investigators found no evidence the utility company had violated state regulations (Total acreage burnt ~146,000 for 12 wildfires)….
In 2015 CalFire found PG&E at fault for a 2015 fire in Butte County that killed two people and destroyed nearly 1,000 structures….
Patrick McCallum, a Sacramento lobbyist whose Santa Rosa home was destroyed in the Tubbs fire, criticized PG&E’s attempt to diminish its potential financial liabilities related to the fires. He heads a coalition of displaced residents and trial attorneys called “Up From the Ashes.”
“PG&E has been trying to duck responsibility for the fires, blaming everything from climate change to local fire departments and the state’s liability laws,” McCallum said in an email. “Cal Fire’s report puts the blame where it belongs — squarely on PG&E, confirming it was responsible for many of the fires that devastated so many lives.” …
PG&E has $800 million in liability insurance, but insurance claims from the fires now total nearly $10 billion.
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