Posts Tagged: catastrophic wildfires

PG&E probation ends, but judge offers harsh comments

A PG&E vehicle at the intersection of Oliver and Skyway in Paradise during the 2018 Camp Fire.(Photo: Dylan Mittag, via Shutterstock)

by WILL SHUCK posted 01.25.2022

Rather than fixing its system during its five-year felony probation, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. instead spent the time, which ends today, “on a crime spree” of negligence, causing 31 wildfires, 113 deaths, thousands of lost structures and a half-million charred acres, according to the federal judge who oversaw the probation.

A new state department targets California’s infrastructure

Aged wooden power poles and high voltage infrastructure. (Photo: Virrage Images, via Shutterstock)

by WILL SHUCK posted 12.28.2021

This summer, California created a department dedicated to stopping its strained electric grid from causing more catastrophic wildfires, and come the new year the fledgling bureaucracy will add a questionably mapped labyrinth of underground cables and pipes to its list of concerns.