In October, 1999, a 170-foot rotting Ponderosa pine tree fell onto a Pacific Gas and Electric power line near Camptonville, California. The power line ignited the tree and the fire spread to private property and the Tahoe and Plumas National Forests, ultimately burning 11,725 acres. The fire cost $4 million to suppress.
The government contended that PG&E should have removed the hazardous tree.
The $14.8 million from the settlement will go towards the suppression costs and for restoration projects on the national forests.
San Diego Gas and Electric Company said yesterday they will implement their preemptive power shut-off plan during periods of high fire danger in San Diego County. They made their announcement after the California Public Utilities Commission said they would not be able to rule on SDG&E’s plan before the Santa Ana wind season starts in September.
SDG&E proposed their plan in October after investigators blamed their power lines for starting three massive wildfires in 2007. If implemented, electricity for up to 150,000 people could be shut off.
According to their plan, in order to shut off electricty all of the following criteria would have to be met :
a red-flag warning from the National Weather Service;
moisture at or below 10 percent in twigs and 75 percent or less in live plants;
relative humidity at or below 20 percent; and
sustained winds over 29 mph, or gusts above 47 mph accompanied by sustained winds over 24 mph.
After having worked as a wildland firefighter in San Diego County for 16 years, I am estimating that these conditions would be met at least once or twice each year between September and November.
Firefighting agencies have not taken a stand on the proposal, but it is opposed by local government officials, water districts, schools, disability advocates, and cable and telephone companies.
San Diego Gas and Electric, SDG&E, whose power lines started three huge fires in southern California in 2007, has agreed to pay $686 million to insurance companies that paid claims to their customers for the Witch Creek, Guejito and Rice Canyon fires.
Here are some excerpts from the Union-Tribune:
The money will be paid directly from SDG&E’s own liability insurance carriers to 65 homeowners insurance companies. About 20 more insurance companies are still in negotiations with SDG&E, the utility said, and the final settlement could reach $900 million.
“SDG&E does not acknowledge any fault or liability,” [SDG&E spokesperson Stephanie Donavan] said. The fires were caused, she said, by the extreme weather conditions that existed in late October 2007. Donovan said the company thought the settlement was prudent, in part to spare the expense of a lengthy trial.
Combined, the Witch Creek, Guejito and Rice Canyon fires killed two people and destroyed more than 1,300 homes in Ramona, Fallbrook, Rancho Bernardo, Poway, Rancho Santa Fe and other communities.
Two state investigations found that arcing SDG&E power lines started each fire. The investigations also blamed, in part, Cox Communications equipment for starting the Guejito fire, which is believed to have been the blaze that burned into Rancho Bernardo before merging with the Witch Creek fire.
Donovan said that as part of the settlement, SDG&E has bought the claims that the insurance companies have against Cox and said the utility will aggressively seek compensation from Cox in a lawsuit that has already been brought.
So the fires were caused by “extreme weather conditions”? Does she mean lightning? No. Strong winds exposed weaknesses in the design and maintenance of the power lines.
One firefighter was entrapped and took refuge in his fire shelter. From the Houston Chronicle:
Three firemen with the Texas Forest Service were injured Monday and Tuesday battling wildfires that starting to intensify as the Houston-area copes with a hotter and dryer summer than usual.
The firemen were hurt battling a 200-acre inferno near Huntsville in Walker County. Two suffered from heat exhaustion and one suffered minor burns before he could crawl inside his emergency aluminum fire shelter.
“This fire spread rapidly. The flames jumped from the crown of a one tree to another,” said Justice Jones, spokesman for the fire service.
The Governor of Wyoming wants more USFS dollars
Here is an excerpt from the Little Chicago Review.
Cheyenne – Wyoming has been left out in the cold by the U.S. Forest Service as that agency allocated federal economic stimulus dollars to western states for wildland fire mitigation projects, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said today in a sharply worded letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The Governor criticized the agency for allocating millions in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 based on
inaccurate data and a model that he said the Forest Service is unwilling to disclose to the states.
“I have had the opportunity to review the list of projects that were selected to get wildland fire funding and this list paints an interesting but somewhat disturbing picture regarding Forest Service priorities,” he said, “even when glossed with a thick shellac of
rhetoric tied to unemployment numbers and other ‘economic stimulus’ veneers.”
The Governor wants an additional $26.5 million for fire mitigation, biomass development, capital construction, and fuels reduction.
Popular Science on firefighting tech
An article in Popular Science examines the use of:
Unmanned aerial vehicles,
A network of sensors, 1 per acre, to monitor weather, which Wildfire Today told you about on September 22, 2008; and
The Wildland Fire Decision Support System.
San Diego County Supervisors oppose SDG&E pre-emptive power shutoff scheme
The latest in San Diego Gas and Electric’s plan to shut off the power to large sections of San Diego County during periods of high fire danger is that the county Board of Supervisors voted four to zero to oppose the plan. Wildfire Today has covered this issue extensively.
An Accident Prevention Analysis Report is available on the Lessons Learned site for the engine rollover that occurred on the Los Padres National Forest in southern California, October 3, 2008.
Minnesota activates National Guard for fires
Governor Tim Pawlenty ordered the Minnesota National Guard to assist in suppressing vegetation fires in the state. Under the emergency executive order, the Guard will supply both people and equipment to the Department of Natural Resources. Oddly, the order which was signed on April 7:
…shall be effective retroactively to April 6, 2009, and will remain in effect until the conclusion of the emergency.
The order refers to:
…a wild grassfire was burning in and around the Carlos Avery Wildlife Refuge, west of Forest Lake. The Governor’s Emergency Executive Order provides personnel and equipment assistance for air wild grassfire suppression from the Minnesota National Guard.
The order was apparently written hurriedly. The fire referred to is the one for which the volunteer firefighter, John Berkin, was charged with arson. It burned 1,500 acres…more information is below.
West Virginia: Tourist train starts 150-acre fire
The West Virginia Division of Foresty has confirmed that a tourist train run by the Durbin & Greenbrier Railroad Company is responsible for starting a fire that burned 150 acres near Elkins last month.
Shon Butler of the Division of Forestry said they are meeting with the Randolph County prosecutor to determine whether charges should be filed. Maybe in this case a railroad that starts a fire will not get a free pass. Congratulations to the DOF for pursuing this case.
Report about firefighter killed in chain saw training
The report about the Florida firefighter that was killed during chainsaw training is now online. We updated our earlier post HERE to include more details.
How the Minnesota firefighter-arsonist was caught
Yesterday Wildfire Today covered the arrest of John Berkin, the firefighter in Minnesota who is suspected of setting a 1,500 acre vegetation fire near Minneapolis. The facts are emerging about how he was identified. From KARE11.com:
KARE spoke with two witnesses — a father and daughter — who helped lead authorities to Berken. They asked not to be identified out of fear for their safety.
They say they were driving to Forest Lake for groceries around 1 p.m. Monday when the father looked in his rearview mirror and saw something shoot out of the car behind him.
“I saw this stream of grey smoke, an explosion of fireworks,” he says. “I mean, red, white, blue, green. They just shot all over the place and it was instant flames.”
The daughter immediately called 911. They got behind the suspect’s car to get a look at his license plate, which had a red “Firefighter” emblem.
“I was really stunned,” the daughter says. “I’m like, I think this guy’s a firefighter.”
They followed the speeding suspect for about three miles but eventually lost him. Still, their description helped investigators identify Berken. He was arrested at the scene a few hours later while fighting the fire.
“I’m told he was taken into custody at one of the homes that had been evacuated,” says Lt. Paul Sommer of the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office
Berken received an award for helping save someone’s life a few years ago. But authorities say his past also includes convictions for check forgery and theft. Sommer says Berken was convicted in 1991 of broadcasting false aircraft distress signals.
“The suspect has a pretty significant criminal history for someone who’s a firefighter,” Sommer says.
UPDATE April 8 @ 12:05 p.m. MT
From TwinCities.com:
During a search of (Berken’s) Columbus home, investigators found a large grocery bag full of fireworks in his garage, according to the complaint. In the master bedroom, investigators also found two letters from the Forest Lake Fire Department reprimanding him for not meeting attendance standards.
A canine from Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms trained to detect explosive materials and residue “hit” on Berken’s vehicle and his fire gloves, the complaint said.
Berken has a checkered past that includes legal troubles dating back to 1991. He was convicted that year of calling a local airport, threatening to blow it up. He was sentenced in federal court to a year in prison for making false radio transmissions.
SDG&E preemptive power shutoff plan raises concerns
The plan of San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) to turn off the power to large sections of San Diego county during periods of high fire danger was presented to a gathering of more than 300 people on April 7 in Alpine, California. Wildfire Today has covered this issue several times before, most recently on April 5 when we posted a map of the areas that could be affected.
A number of people who expressed their opinions at the meeting last night agreed with Wildfire Today’s stance that the plan is simply a way for the power company to avoid liability and also to save money by not making upgrades to their existing powerlines.
Here are some excerpts from a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune:
David Geier, the utility’s vice president of electric transmission, told the more than 300 people in attendance that SDG&E looks at the plan “as a final defense. . . . The whole goal of the program is to reduce catastrophic fires.”
But many people said losing power would create its own dangers. Children could be stranded at backcountry schools; firefighters and property owners might not have water because pumps couldn’t operate; communications systems would be worthless; and people with health problems who rely on electric-powered equipment could be at risk.
Janis Shackelford of Lakeside said the proposal would duplicate conditions that killed 13 people on Muth Valley Road during the first hours of the human-caused 2003 Cedar fire.
The fire had cut power “and the Muth Valley people couldn’t see where they were going in the dark and the smoke,” she said. “SDG&E is proposing to create its own natural disaster.”
The state Public Utilities Commission will make a decision this summer about SDG&E’s plan.
San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) has been lobbying the Public Utilities Commission for permission to cut off power to much of San Diego County during periods of strong winds. They look at this as a less expensive alternative to making their powerlines more resistant to causing fires.
Here is an excerpt from an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune by Onell R. Soto.
====================
After months of listening to telephone companies, water districts and disability-rights advocates criticize a plan to cut off power to parts of San Diego County during fire weather, state regulators are set to hear from the public.
The California Public Utilities Commission will consider opinions from residents this week on whether to approve a controversial proposal that San Diego Gas & Electric says will reduce the risk of fire when the weather is dry and windy.
“Everybody’s worried about it,” said Lisa Darroch, a Jamul mother who is worried about children being in school without power or communication on hot days. “What’s going to happen to our kids?”
Darroch plans to testify at a hearing in Alpine on Tuesday night. A second hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in Valley Center
The brown areas are under consideration for power shut offs during strong winds. Map: San Diego Union-Tribune
The plan could affect nearly 150,000 people, including residents of Fallbrook, Escondido, Poway, Lakeside, Ramona and Alpine.
Power would be cut when the National Weather Service declares a red-flag warning; humidity is below 21 percent; moisture in dead plants is 10 percent or less and in living plants 75 percent or less; and sustained winds are above 34 mph or are gusting above 54 mph, with sustained winds above 29 mph.
The shut-offs, lasting up to 72 hours, are needed to prevent power lines from arcing in high winds and sparking massive wildfires of the sort that swept through the county in 2003 and 2007, Donovan said.
Opponents have raised a variety of concerns in recent filings with the PUC.
School officials said they would have to cancel classes if they don’t have electricity. Disability advocates said people who rely on power for medical equipment would have health problems.
Water districts warned they would be unable to pump water for firefighters, and recalled how Ramona residents were not allowed back home for a week after the 2007 fires because a crucial pumping station lacked power.
AT&T said cell phone and land-line service would be lost after a few hours – even outside the affected area – as backup batteries run out of juice. And cable companies said people would lose a link to the outside world, television and the Internet.
All of them said they would face increased costs as a result of SDG&E’s proposals, whether from spending millions of dollars for diesel-powered generators or, in the case of schools, losing state funds because students miss class.
“I have never seen quite as broad a coalition uniformly opposed to an SDG&E proposal,” said Michael Shames, executive director of UCAN, the nonprofit Utility Consumers’ Action Network.
Shames said he’s against the plan because it might increase fire risk rather than reduce it. People are more likely to use candles, cook with fire and mess up while using a generator if they don’t have power, he said.
