A large wildfire in Northern California, the Park Fire, has caused damage to hundreds of Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) power poles, in addition to multiple transformers and segments of power lines, KQED reports.
Most of the damage to PG&E’s equipment was contained to the area where the fire started, and 450 power poles were burned, according to PG&E spokesperson Paul Moreno, who spoke with KQED. PG&E did not provide an estimate for the number of damaged transformers and power line segments, however.
PG&E’s resiliency work may have prevented the damage from being even worse. The utility had previously treated 2,700 of its power poles with fire retardants, Moreno told KQED, and of the 349 treated poles that the fire burned around, 306 survived. Moreno said this likely saved “millions” of dollars and will help with power restoration. Of the 3,000 customers that lost power due to the fire, 2,000 have since been restored, KQED reports.
PG&E is conducting its own efforts to contain the fire, with around 300 employees and contractors responding, KQED reports. The utility’s own Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters are also on site to dump water on the blaze with direction from Cal Fire.
The Park Fire began burning on Wednesday, July 24 after a burning car was pushed into a gully – it was not caused by any faulty PG&E equipment, according to fire and utility officials. Since igniting, the fire burned over 600 square miles – making it the fifth-largest wildfire in California’s history, KQED reports, with the top nine biggest biggest wildfires occurring since 2017. More than 5,000 firefighters are still working to contain the fire, Cal Fire said.
The utility utilizes an array of technologies and tactics to mitigate wildfire risk, including AI smoke detection cameras and shutting off power proactively in high-risk areas. This wildfire season, PG&E has so far activated its public safety power shutoff program twice, which affected around 2,000 customers.
This story includes reporting from the Associated Press.
