Southern California Edison (SCE) has agreed to pay $37 million for starting the Canyon Fire in October, 2007 near Malibu, California, which burned 4,565 acres and 22 structures, including the Malibu Presbyterian Church. Investigators determined three utility poles that fell were overloaded with electrical equipment and wires, in violation of state regulations. Under the agreement, SCE would pay a $20 million fine to the state and spend $17 million on improving the safety of their utility pole network.
The agreement still has to be approved by the state utilities commission.
The poles were co-owned and also held equipment for four cell phone companies, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and NextG, all of which have already reached agreements about the fire, and expect to pay a total of $26.5 in fines.
The Salt River Project, an Arizona utility company, collaborated with the Coconino National Forest to produce the training video below that discusses dangers and safety practices for wildland firefighters working near powerlines. The Missoula Technology Development Center reviewed the video and found it suitable for training wildland firefighters.
The video explains:
The roles and responsibilities of the utility company.
How water, foam, retardant, or smoke can conduct electricity to the ground or across powerlines.
Aircraft safety near powerlines.
The difference between “step potential” and “touch potential” and how to respond accordingly.
How to safely exit and move away from a vehicle energized by a downed powerline.
U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management employees can access the video on the internal Forest Service network at http://fsweb.mtdc.wo.fs.fed.us/programs/fire/video/safety.htm
Caylym continues to develop containers for dropping retardant
Caylym system dispersing a liquid after exiting an aircraft. Photo credit: Caylym
Since Wildfire Today last covered their disposable container for delivering retardant over wildfires,the Caylym company has continued to develop and promote their concept. The system consists of containers constructed of cardboard, plywood, a plastic bladder, and dozens of yards of straps. They hold 264 gallons each and are designed to be carried in military aircraft such as the C-130 or C-27 using the standard cargo system. The containers when empty weigh 100 pounds.
South Africa: Firefighter Man killed fighting a fire near Clanwilliam
(UPDATE January 26, 2013: It turns out the man that was killed was not a trained firefighter, volunteer or paid. As so frequently happens in remote areas of South Africa, he lived nearby and was doing what he could to fight the fire while hoping that firefighters might show up.)
A man has died fighting a wildfire near Clanwilliam in South Africa (map). Christo Fourie, a retired bank manager, had been missing since Wednesday and his body was found Thursday in a burned area near his vehicle. A police spokesperson said Mr. Fourie was caught in the fire but the exact circumstances of his death were being investigated. A news report described the man as a volunteer firefighter.
The fire has burned 24,000 hectares (59,305 acres) and is being fought by firefighters supported by helicopters and four air tankers.
Missouri: Fire destroys Mammoth-area home
A wildfire destroyed a home on County Road 527 off the T Highway near Mammoth, Missouri on Monday. The fire was fought by the Timber Knob and Pontiac VFDs for several hours but the home was a total loss.
Utah: fire baloons may become illegal
Fire Balloon — a screen grab from a Mercedes commercial on CBS, November 4, 2012.
Proposed legislation in Utah would outlaw fire balloons, sometimes called Chinese lanterns or sky lanterns. These devices are small, lightweight, inexpensive hot air balloons powered by burning material at the base. They can be made out of common household materials or purchased in large quantities online.
We first wrote about fire balloons in November after seeing the concept promoted by Mercedes in a car commercial on network television. An article in the Deseret News quotes Coy Porter, the Utah State Fire Marshal, as saying, “The biggest problem is just if they’re slightly damaged, there’s a small rip, they don’t get the elevation, they can still come down while the flame is still going in there.”
These incendiary devices are sometimes released by the hundreds at weddings or in celebration of the Chinese New Year.
More information from the article:
During the wedding rehearsal for former BYU and current NBA basketball player Jimmer Fredette last May, hundreds of lanterns were released into the Denver sky. One of those lanterns landed in a neighbor’s yard and lit a tree on fire. Fortunately, it didn’t do too much damage.
Last summer, Porter said a wildland fire in St. George was also started as a result of a sky lantern.
Links to information about a few fires that have been caused by these devices: here, here, and here.
Los Angeles: law firm has Wild Land Fire Litigation Practice Group
I guess there should be no surprise that a law firm has a “Wild Land Fire Litigation Practice Group”. In our litigious society there are probably lawyers that specialize in every conceivable niche. The Murchison and Cummings law firm in Los Angeles has such a group chaired by Friedrich W. Seitz. They are representing the Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative in defending them against the numerous lawsuits that have been filed relating to the September 2011 fire in Bastrop County, Texas that burned 34,000 acres and destroyed 1,600 homes. In an effort to try to get in on the action, a law firm in Texas created a web site in order to recruit clients to sue Bluebonnet for another fire in Bastrop County, the Wilderness Ridge fire, which burned 26 homes, 20 businesses, and 1,491 acres in Bastrop County, Texas in February, 2009.
Murchison and Cummings has defended Southern California Edison and Breitburn Energy Partners against litigation arising out of wild land fires for many years.
Two companies that performed work for San Diego Gas and Electric agreed to pay a total of $370 million for their roles in the 2007 Witch Creek and Guejito fires in San Diego County. Davey Tree Expert Company was a contractor doing hazard reduction for SDG&E, trimming trees near power lines. A fallen sycamore branch is believed to have started the Guejito fire near Fallbrook, Californina.
PAR Electrical replaced and modified a power pole that has been linked to the ignition of the 198,000-acre Witch Creek fire which started near Santa Ysabel during 100 mph Santa Ana winds. The fires destroyed more than 1,300 homes, killed two people, and caused massive evacuations.
The $370 will be paid to SDG&E which has already agreed to pay $686 million to insurance companies that paid claims to their customers for the Witch Creek, Guejito and Rice Canyon fires. The company also agreed in a 2010 settlement with the California Public Utilities Commission to pay the state of California $14.8 million for the three fires. The Commission accused SDG&E of obstructing their investigation of the cause of the fires. According to the San Diego Union, in the settlement the company admitted that it didn’t give investigators the information they asked for and nor did it let its workers talk to the investigators, as required by law.
Power company and contractors agree to pay nearly $30M for fires
Federal prosecutors in California have reached agreements with a power company and two tree-trimming contractors over two fires in 2004. One burned 7,700 acres in the Eldorado National Forest and the other burned 3,300 acres in the Six Rivers and Shasta-Trinity National Forests. Federal officials said the fires were caused by power lines brought down by falling trees.
Western Environmental Consultants Inc. will pay $11.4 million to cover damage from the fire in the Six Rivers and Shasta-Trinity National Forests. Davey Tree Surgery Co. will pay $12 million for its role in the in the Eldorado National Forest fire. Pacific Gas and Electric Company has agreed to pay $6.1 million.
These are not the largest settlements in California for starting fires. In 2008 the Union Pacific Railroad Company agreed to pay $102 million for starting a fire north of Sacramento in 2000 that burned 52,000 acres of the Lassen and Plumas national forests. Sparks from welders repairing tracks caused the Storrie Fire on August 17, 2000, in Plumas County.
The U. S. Department of Justice and the state of California’s CalFire have been very successful with their Fire Recovery Litigation Teams, assigned to investigate and prosecute individuals and companies who start wildland fires.
Wisconsin Supreme Court awards double damages for 2003 fire
Former Supreme Court Justice Jon Wilcox and 18 other plaintiffs were awarded double the $568,422 that was the result of a 2006 court decision over damages from a 2003 fire started by a negligent camper. The award was handed down by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, five members of which served on the Court with former Justice Wilcox.
A Geographic Information Systems specialist, Karen Ridenour, has been researching the history of the wildfire that became the most disastrous wildfire in Texas history. Several decisions made on that September 4 day helped to mitigate the potential impacts on the residents in the path of the fire, which still burned 34,000 acres and destroyed 1,600 homes.
An article at the Statesman contains some of the facts about the fire that have been collected by Ms. Ridenour:
…The first decision was made before the fire even began on Sunday, Sept. 4. Mike Fisher, Bastrop County’s emergency management coordinator, already knew that the conditions were perfect for wildfires: drought-baked vegetation, low humidity and a steady north wind caused in part by Tropical Storm Lee, which had made landfall on the Louisiana coast that morning.
By early afternoon, fires were burning across the state. Local fire departments would end up responding to 227 fires that day, and for 57 of them, the locals called the Texas Forest Service for assistance, Ridenour said. The agency assisted with nine fires in Central Texas.
Fisher had been monitoring radio traffic about the fires in Travis and Fayette counties, and he decided to activate his county’s emergency operations center. By 2 p.m., County Judge Ronnie McDonald, Sheriff Terry Pickering, Fire Chief Henry Perry and public information officer Gayle Wilhelm had joined Fisher at the operations center in the Grady Tuck Building on Loop 150.
At 2:16 p.m., emergency center staffer Steve Long called the 911 dispatcher to put everyone on alert. “We suggested if they were understaffed, they better start calling people in,” Fisher said.
Four minutes later, at 2:20 p.m., the first 911 call came in from a homeowner on Charolais Drive, just west of Texas 21 in the Circle D neighborhood. A dead pine had snapped and fallen on a power line. The homeowner reported flames near her backyard.
[…]
“This fire didn’t seem to travel in a line,” said Scott Sutcliffe, the assistant chief for the Heart of the Pines Volunteer Fire Department. “It was just popping up everywhere. It was raining embers.”
The embers created hundreds of spot fires, which would then merge and become a new fire front, Sutcliffe said.
“How do you fight something that’s moving that fluidly?” Sutcliffe said. “You really can’t. You run, try to get in front of it again, because you don’t want to be caught in the middle.”
Sean Rissel, a Forest Service resource specialist, would later get permission from homeowners to collect seven trampolines that had survived the fire.
A square meter of one trampoline from McAllister Road was peppered with 250 burn holes, Rissel said.
The wind blew embers for miles; residents reported finding chunks of blackened pine bark the size of softballs in Rosanky, 15 miles south of the Colorado River. As the fire grew, smoke and heat and energy billowed into the sky and created horizontal roll vortices: slowly turning cylinders that roiled above the fire. Ridenour said they are a sign of “very extreme fire behavior.” Aerial maps would later show what looked like long stripes of blackened forest within the fire scar — a sign, Ridenour said, that the vortices became so massive that they crashed back to earth along the fire’s flanks.
“When it crashes,” Ridenour said, “it nukes everything.”
