PG&E files report with state on Mosquito Fire, says power equipment tagged by investigators

PG&E Corp. said Thursday that fire investigators “placed caution tape” around a company transmission pole near the spot where the Mosquito Fire started two days earlier near a reservoir in Placer County.

The utility, which was driven into bankruptcy in 2019 by a series of massive wildfires, said it hadn’t observed “damage or abnormal conditions” at the transmission pole or other nearby facilities. Nevertheless, it filed a report about the pole with the Public Utilities Commission, as required by law, “out of an abundance of caution.”

The fire started Tuesday near Oxbow Reservoir and prompted the evacuation of about 1,500 residents of Foresthill. By Wednesday morning it had burned through 6,870 acres and had 0% containment, according to Cal Fire.

PG&E was blamed for some of the worst wildfires in recent California history, including the 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County, which destroyed 12,000 homes and killed 85 people. The utility pleaded guilty to felony manslaughter charges and paid millions of fines.

The flurry of fires sent the company into Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. It emerged a year later with new leadership and a vow to improve its safety record. But it continues to struggle with wildfire safety, and was blamed by investigators for last year’s Dixie Fire, which burned more than 1 million acres in several Northern California counties.

Earlier this year, it agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars in fines to avoid criminal prosecution in the Dixie Fire and 2019’s Kincade Fire in Sonoma County. It’s facing criminal charges in the 2020 Zogg Fire in Shasta County, which killed four people.

In its report Wednesday, the company said the Forest Service “has placed caution tape around the base of a PG&E transmission pole (60Kv).Thus far, PG&E has observed no damage or abnormal conditions to the pole or our facilities near OxBow Reservoir, has not observed down conductor in the area or any vegetation related issues. Our information reflects electrical activity occurred close in time to the report time of the fire. The investigation is ongoing. This information is preliminary. “