California Utility Equipment Sparked More Than 2,000 Fires in Over Three Years - Los Angeles Times
Must point out how thus undermines Trumps crazy allegations about California to rest. in one case, no we don’t drain water the firefighters need into the oceans. No, we don’t need to rake the countless square miles of forest. No, we don’t have a forest management crisis we have a lack of oversight over privately owned public service utilities.
A lack of oversight over a privately owned company facilitated the fires that cost many lives and billions of dollars. Not quite what Trump had to say now is it?
Equipment owned by California’s three largest utilities ignited more than 2,000 fires in three and a half years — a timespan in which state regulators cited and fined the companies nine times for electrical safety violations.
How the state regulates utilities is under growing scrutiny following unprecedented wildfires suspected to have been caused by power line issues, blazes that have destroyed thousands of homes and killed dozens of people.
Lacking the manpower and sophisticated technology necessary to monitor more than 250,000 miles of power lines across the state, regulators rely on something of an honor system, with utilities responsible for ensuring all trees and vegetation are cut back far enough from electrical equipment before the onset of dry, high-fire danger conditions.
More: California utility equipment sparked more than 2,000 fires in over three years - Los Angeles Times