Pacific Gas and Electric Co. offered details about equipment failures near the site of what is suspected to be the ignition point of the Camp Fire in northern California.

The utility offered details in a supplemental report to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) about two incidents on its electric system near the Camp Fire.

Before it was brought under control in late November, the fire had consumed an area roughly the size of Chicago, killed more than 85 people and caused as much as $10 billion in damage. The town of Paradise was largely destroyed by flames.

Earlier, PG&E submitted two Electric Incident Reports (EIR) to state regulators: one on November 8 and one on November 16.

Those reports noted outages on the utility's Caribou-Palermo 115 kV transmission line, at 6:15 a.m., and the Big Bend 1101 12 kV, at 6:45 a.m., on November 8.

Suspension insulator similar to the one that failed on a PG&E line.That same day, PG&E conducted an aerial patrol of the Caribou-Palermo site and reported damage on the line at a transmission tower. The utility said that a suspension insulator supporting a transposition jumper had separated from an arm on the tower. Once PG&E could access the site on the ground, crews found a broken C-hook attached to the separated suspension insulator that had connected the suspension insulator to a tower arm. Crews also noted what the utility called a "flash mark" on the tower.

With regard to the Big Bend 1101 distribution circuit, PG&E said it conducted a patrol on November 9. Workers observed a pole and other equipment on the ground with what the utility said were bullets and bullet holes at the break point of the pole and on the equipment. On November 12, another PG&E patrol observed wires down and damaged and downed poles. PG&E also found several snapped trees, with some on top of the downed wires.

The utility said that these incidents remain under investigation, and its information is preliminary. PG&E is cooperating with CAL FIRE officials.

Serving Fire-Prone Areas

More than half of PG&E's service area is within what it said are extreme or high fire-risk areas as designated by the CPUC's fire-threat map. PG&E said that it is evolving and expanding its Community Wildfire Safety Program. Measures include expanding its network of weather stations to enhance weather forecasting and modeling. By 2022, PG&E will add 1,300 new weather stations in high fire-risk areas.

The utility plans to install nearly 600 high-definition cameras in high fire-threat areas, increasing coverage across these areas to more than 90%. It also plans to modify its vegetation management program with an increased focus on vegetation that poses a higher potential for wildfire risk, such as overhanging branches and limbs directly above and around power lines, and tree species at an increased risk of falling into power lines, as well as dead and dying trees.

Plans also call for conducting accelerated safety inspections of more than 5,500 miles of transmission lines, including approximately 50,000 structures in high fire-threat areas, in addition to routine inspections and maintenance. This includes ground or climbing inspections, as well as aerial imagery captured by drones and in some cases, helicopters, to further complement and enhance visual inspections.

Longer-term plans to harden the utility's transmission and distribution network include installing stronger and more resilient poles and covered power lines across 7,000 miles of highest fire-risk areas over the next 10 years. It also plans to replace equipment to further reduce risk to its system and tailoring upgrades based on terrain and weather conditions using more granular analysis of fire-prone regions.