Judge orders utility PG&E to explain role in start of Dixie Fire that’s tearing through California
By Aaron Williams, Timothy Bella and María Luisa Paúl
Yesterday
SUSANVILLE, Calif. — As the Dixie Fire continues to ravage hundreds of thousands of acres in Northern California, a federal judge has now ordered Pacific Gas & Electric to explain the utility company’s role in starting what has become the largest wildfire burning in the United States.
The cause of the blaze remains under investigation, but U.S. District Judge William Alsup asked PG&E in an order issued late Friday to give information regarding the tree that fell on the utility company’s power line at the origin of the Dixie Fire. PG&E has said its equipment may have been responsible for starting both the Dixie Fire and the much smaller Fly Fire, which later merged with the Dixie Fire.
Alsup — who oversees PG&E’s criminal probation for felony convictions stemming from the deadly 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion — also required that PG&E give details about the equipment and vegetation in the area where the fires started. The San Francisco judge said the company would have until Aug. 16 to respond.
“PG&E’s responses will not be deemed as an admission by PG&E that it caused any fire, but they will serve as a starting point for discussion,” wrote Alsup, of the Northern District of California.
A PG&E spokesperson told The Washington Post on Saturday that the utility was aware of the court’s orders, saying PG&E “will respond by the deadline.”
more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/07/dixie-fire-california-missing-people/
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