172 Wine Country infernos overwhelmed fire crews, probe of deadly blazes will take months more
Among the complications: 172 fires were reported at the outset of the October blazes, which were among the most destructive in the state's history.
The fires killed 44 people, destroyed 8,700 homes and buildings and burned 245,000 acres.
"The challenge is that many of the fires merged together,"
This news organization was the first to report on fire dispatchers responding to multiple calls of downed power lines and blown transformers as the deadly blazes sparked. That evidence led state regulators to review whether
Prior to the fires,
In October, emergency crews were overwhelmed by 911 emergency calls reporting a slew of wildfires in the
"We had deployed; we were prepared," ahead of the deadly fires, Pimlott told the panel. But he added, "I don't think anybody could be prepared for the conditions that surfaced in
Pimlott told the subcommittee he had scheduled a meeting in
"Hopefully in the next several months" fire investigators will be able to determine the cause of the devastating blazes, Pimlott told the lawmakers. "The process is well along. We are hopeful that this is months and not years, and hopefully sooner."
The numerous outbreaks, along with the merging of the infernos, could make it more tricky for investigators to determine the cause of each blaze.
The subcommittee's goal,
"Are utilities and regulators doing enough to ensure that the risks associated with our electrical equipment are properly managed?" he asked.
The lawmakers vowed to ensure that accountability is part of the subcommittee's work.
"We will not forget" the victims of the infernos, Hill said. "We will work to hold accountable any entity found responsible for these devastating fires."
"Perfect safety is going to be really hard for us to reach," Picker said.
About 4 million people -- roughly 10 percent of the state's population -- now live in the 70,000 square miles deemed to face elevated and high fire risks, as identified in a new
Some lawmakers criticized the PUC for moving too slowly to implement state laws designed to improve safety related to utilities and wildfires.
"When we are talking about how we better prepare our state, there is the hope for a strident effort to enact these protections as best as possible," Assemblyman
"We recognize the wildfire risk in
"It's now my understanding that
"That's right," Hogan replied.
Hill pressed on, asking, "Do you actively disable these reclosers?"
Hogan said
"We have put together a program to proactively take those reclosers out of service when we have high fire risk in those areas," Hogan said. "The prudent operation we took was to create a pilot, make sure there were not any unintended consequences, and then roll it out further."
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