CPUC Opens Investigation Into 2007 Wildfires

Thursday, November 13, 2008

CPUC Opens Investigation Into 2007 Wildfires

California Public utilities commission has opened two formal investigations into the possibility that rule-breaking by San Diego Gas & Electric and Cox Cable played a role in causing the October 2007 wildfires.

The California Public Utilities Commission announces it is investigating whether utility companies violated requirements regarding equipment that has been linked to last fall's devastating San Diego-area wildfires.

The commission has opened two formal investigations into the possibility that rule-breaking by San Diego Gas & Electric and Cox Cable played a role in causing the October 2007 wildfires.

The first probe will center on potential safety violations on the part of SDG&E involving the origins of the Rice and Witch fires, according to a commission official.

The second will seek to determine if the start of the Guejito Fire was related to any breached requirements on the part of the utility company and/or Cox Cable.

Authorities also will weigh whether SDG&E failed to cooperate with commission staffers in their investigations into the blazes.

A report by the commission's Consumer Protection and Safety Division alleges that overhead conductors between two SDG&E poles contacted each other on Oct. 21 of last year due to a violation of CPUC regulations, starting the Witch Fire.

A Cal Fire report found that downed SDG&E power lines sparked the Rice Fire, and a CPSD investigation concluded that contact between electrical transmission cables and a Cox lashing wire started the Guejito Fire.

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How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

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Thursday, November 13, 2008