California Wildfire
California Wildfire, see wikipedia pages
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_California_wildfires has annual stats, general cause, etc.
- Since the early 2010s, wildfires in California are growing more dangerous because of the accumulation of wood fuel in forests, higher population, and aging and often poorly maintained electricity transmission and distribution lines, particularly in areas serviced by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E).
- PG&E is one of six regulated, investor-owned electric utilities (IOUs) in California; the other five are PacifiCorp, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, Bear Valley Electric, and Liberty Utilities.[7] In 2018 and 2019, the company received widespread media notoriety when investigations by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) found the company's infrastructure primarily responsible for causing two separate devastating wildfires in California, including the 2018 Camp Fire,[8][9] the deadliest wildfire in California history. The formal finding of liability led to losses in federal bankruptcy court.[10] On January 14, 2019, PG&E announced its filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in response to its liability for the catastrophic 2017 and 2018 wildfires in Northern California.[11][12] The company hoped to come out of bankruptcy by June 30, 2020,[13][14] and was successful on Saturday, June 20, 2020, when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali issued the final approval of the plan for PG&E to exit bankruptcy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Gas_and_Electric_Company
- PG&E equipment has often been the cause of wildfires in California.[219] PG&E has been found guilty of criminal negligence in many cases involving fires. These include the 1994 Trauner Fire,[220] a substation fire in San Francisco in 1996, the 1999 Pendola Fire,[221] a San Francisco substation fire in 2003, the Sims Fire and Fred's Fire in 2004,[222] an explosion and electrical fire in San Francisco in 2005, the 2008 Rancho Cordova Gas Explosion,[223] the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion,[224] 2014 Carmel Gas Explosion,[225] 2015 Butte Fire, 2018 Camp Fire, among others.[226] Approximately forty of the 315 wildfires in PG&E's service area in 2017 and 2018 were allegedly caused by PG&E equipment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Gas_and_Electric_Company#Wildfires
- PG&E, has 107,000 miles of distribution lines, 81,000 miles of which are overhead. The cost in 2019 to convert all of PG&E's overhead distribution lines to underground lines would cost a total of $240 billion, or $15,000 per PG&E customer. (This cost estimate is only for distribution lines, not the higher voltage transmission lines.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Gas_and_Electric_Company#Undergrounding
- In December 2011, the non-partisan organization Public Campaign criticized PG&E for spending $79 million on lobbying and not paying any taxes during 2008–2010, instead getting $1 billion in tax rebates, despite making a profit of $4.8 billion and increasing executive pay by 94% to $8.5 million in 2010 for its top five executives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Gas_and_Electric_Company#Tax_dodging_and_lobbying
- PG&E is one of six regulated, investor-owned electric utilities (IOUs) in California; the other five are PacifiCorp, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, Bear Valley Electric, and Liberty Utilities.[7] In 2018 and 2019, the company received widespread media notoriety when investigations by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) found the company's infrastructure primarily responsible for causing two separate devastating wildfires in California, including the 2018 Camp Fire,[8][9] the deadliest wildfire in California history. The formal finding of liability led to losses in federal bankruptcy court.[10] On January 14, 2019, PG&E announced its filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in response to its liability for the catastrophic 2017 and 2018 wildfires in Northern California.[11][12] The company hoped to come out of bankruptcy by June 30, 2020,[13][14] and was successful on Saturday, June 20, 2020, when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali issued the final approval of the plan for PG&E to exit bankruptcy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Gas_and_Electric_Company
- the median yearly acres burned: 647,537; prior to 1850, about 4.5 million acres burned yearlyx
- More than 350,000 people in California live in towns sited completely within zones deemed to be at very high risk of fire. In total, more than 2.7 million people live in "very high fire hazard severity zones", which also include areas at lesser risk. (That's out of 39M total population.)
- Since the early 2010s, wildfires in California are growing more dangerous because of the accumulation of wood fuel in forests, higher population, and aging and often poorly maintained electricity transmission and distribution lines, particularly in areas serviced by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E).
- climate change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_in_California In Los Angeles County, 34% of hospitals are located within one mile of fire hazard severity zones. Additionally, one of these hospitals was also deemed in danger of coastal flooding due to the effects of climate change.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_California_wildfires
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_2025_Southern_California_wildfires
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_California_wildfires
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_California_wildfires
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