California utility says its equipment may be linked to fire
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Pacific Gas & Electric says its equipment may have been involved in the start of the big Dixie Fire burning in the Sierra Nevada.
The utility said in a Sunday filing to California utility regulators that a repair man responding to a circuit outage on July 13 spotted blown fuses in a conductor atop a pole, a tree leaning into the conductor and fire at the base of the tree.
PG&E equipment has repeatedly been linked to major wildfires, including a 2018 fire that ravaged the town of Paradise and killed 85 people.
The Dixie Fire is among dozens burning in the parched West. Meteorologists predicted critically dangerous fire weather through at least Monday with lightning possible in both California and southern Oregon.
The ongoing #DixieFire continues to burn in Plumas County. This video is from around 5:20 pm today, July 18th. Video courtesy of https://t.co/hOGbr85yvx and @PGE4Me #CAwx pic.twitter.com/lsftLNN8O5
— NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) July 19, 2021
