Massive wildfires rage in California

[Number9]

Marc Stokes, who works on Alcatraz in San Francisco, posted side-by-side photos of the view from the island on from the week of Oct. 28 and Nov. 10, two days after a fire started in Butte County, Calif.

I happened to be near that same spot that this photo was taken on that same day. Two days earlier I attended a wedding about 50 miles south of there.

 

[NorthStar]

Wow, the visibility in the sky is pretty bad.

 

[NorthStar]

I've read this short article this morning:

PG&E safety probe: Company may just be trying to ‘check the boxes,’ judge says

"A state regulatory judge voiced skepticism about the extent of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s commitment to safety two weeks before the horrific Camp Fire put the utility’s practices under renewed public scrutiny.

Peter Allen, an administrative law judge for the California Public Utilities Commission, made the comments in the context of an investigation into PG&E’s corporate culture that began in 2015 in response to the deadly 2010 San Bruno pipeline blast. In a proposed decision directing the utility to implement the findings of a 2017 audit, Allen questioned whether PG&E had gone far enough to prioritize safety across its organization.

“While in general we are encouraged by PG&E’s responsiveness to the (audit), we continue to have concerns about whether PG&E is truly changing its culture, or is just trying to ‘check the boxes,’” Allen wrote in the proposed decision issued Oct. 25.

The proposed decision is set to be considered by the commission when it meets Nov. 29 in San Francisco.

The safety investigation has taken on added significance due to the Camp Fire burning east of Chico in Butte County.

State fire investigators are still looking into the cause of the Camp Fire — the most destructive and deadly wildfire in California history — but the utility could be blamed. PG&E has said two pieces of its equipment malfunctioned in the fire area, one shortly before the blaze reportedly started and the other shortly after.

The investigation embraces both Pacific Gas and Electric and its investor-owned parent company, PG&E Corp.

Michael Picker, the president of the utilities commission, has said he wants to expand the ongoing PG&E safety investigation to include recent wildfires. And he told The Chronicle he concurs with Allen’s proposed decision.

“The utility has done a lot of things that make us safer, but still not to the level we expect,” Picker said Wednesday.

In the proposed order, Allen said PG&E “appears to have overstated the safety expertise of several of its directors” on the company board during earlier proceedings in the investigation.
“This Commission wants PG&E to have a genuine and effective safety culture that permeates the organization, not just a thin veneer or window dressing that superficially looks good but fails under stress,” Allen wrote.

PG&E has told the commission it agrees with the 61 safety recommendations the 2017 assessment targeted at the utility and has promised to implement most of them by the end of this year. Recommendations include adding safety to the list of qualifications PG&E used to select independent board directors, conducting a broad reassessment of the company’s safety programs and accelerating safety leadership training for crew foremen.

“While the full scope of a new phase in the CPUC’s Safety Culture proceeding hasn’t been communicated yet, PG&E welcomes any opportunity to receive feedback from our regulator as we strive to continuously improve,” said Tamar Sarkissian, a PG&E spokeswoman. “Wildfires are spreading at rates we’ve never seen before and we must work together across all sectors and disciplines to address this issue with urgency.”

As the utility tries to make improvements, some of its staunchest critics remain concerned about safety issues.

“I’m very concerned that PG&E continues to have problems following the basic rules of safely running their system,” said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, which has been involved in the investigation process. “Unfortunately, the consequences of that failure can be devastating for everybody.”

The 2017 audit of PG&E was conducted for the commission by NorthStar Consulting Group. In a report that ran more than 330 pages, NorthStar said it believes “PG&E executive management is committed to safety,” as are field employees, noting that “no one desires to be unsafe.” But the report also identified crucial flaws in PG&E’s approach.

“While PG&E is committed to safety and efforts have been made to reduce incidents and increase the organizational focus on safety, these efforts have been somewhat reactionary — driven by immediate needs and an understandable sense of urgency, rather than a comprehensive enterprise-wide approach to addressing safety,” the NorthStar report said.

NorthStar concluded PG&E quickly moved to address gas system issues revealed by the San Bruno explosion, which killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. But the utility moved slower when it came to the organization’s more general safety culture, the report said.

While Picker now wants PG&E’s wildfire response to be considered as part of the safety investigation, he said he is still devising a formal plan to make that happen.

“Again, this is not about the fires, and it’s not even about San Bruno. It’s really, how do you measure whether the organization is, from top to bottom, really addressing safety in a conscious, day to day, hour to hour way?” Picker said. “It’s not enough to have slogans. It’s not what you think — it’s what you do.”

As the investigation proceeds, PG&E’s board makeup may come under scrutiny, according to Picker. He noted the company still has several directors who were in place at the time of the pipeline explosion, which he said “doesn’t send a real message of accountability.”

But Picker isn’t yet sure whether the commission can force PG&E to change its board members. The utility and its publicly traded parent have technically separate boards, but they share the same 12 members. Different board members hold the position of chairman for the two entities.

“There will clearly be arguments as to whether we have the power to do that,” he said. “It just seems to me that it’s a necessary question to discuss.”

 

[RogerD]

Paradise California on the 4th of July.
A couple of questions. What would cause homes and cars to spontaneously combust?How can a fire move 24,000 ft a minute...even if if that report is overstated that is still 200 mph

 

[NorthStar]

1. Intense infernal heat.
2. Exceptional environment.

 

[Folsom]

Houses are very good fuel. If not on fire a backstab AC receptical could cause it, among other things. Electrical is a typical source outside of oil rags (more of a grarage thing, for people who work on cars).

The movement probably isn’t a direct “as a bird flys” statistic. But they can be very fast. A problem some people have is they have so little time they can’t even grab their pets...

 

[RogerD]

1. Intense infernal heat.
2. Exceptional environment.

Well I have lived in the Sierra most of my life and yes we have been in a drought since about 1980. There is still plenty of underground water though. The only problem is the complete destruction of the homes and vehicles that only a fire of 2500 to 3000 degrees can cremate people as they sit. These are not normal fires.imho

 

[Steve Williams]

One of the things that you forget Bob is that so many of these huge estates by virtue of their size as well as being located deep in the hills and canyons, and thus they all functioned on propane tanks which were buried under ground.. One the fires hit it was like bombs going off which added fuel to the fire --pun intended

 

[DaveyF]

The other thing that I think may not be obvious is that a lot of these communities were carved out of the forest around them. In the case of Paradise, I believe that this community should never have been allowed to be located in that location in the first place. There are a number of small towns throughout Northern California and Southern California ( although less in S.Calif ) that this scenario applies to. Almost a disaster waiting to happen, imo.

 

[BlueFox]

When I retire next year I had been thinking of selling the Silicon Valley house, and getting a new, or building, a house in Northen CA, but that idea is on hold now.

 

[Folsom]

I was told where the fire really wiped out the most homes, it was a no maintenance area. Brush and trees where suppose to be left alone, as an ordinance of some kind. Now that probably doesn’t help but isn’t to blame either, houses love to burn; so when they are just general neighborhoods close together it doesn’t matter a lot. Sorry I don’t have any good details, I just know a guy who use to work in the area (which I have not been to).


Steve, it really makes me think about how many architecture featured homes I have seen that are integrated into the forest. It is a trend to build off the ground and between trees as much as possible among some architects... Maybe not the best idea. Even concrete will get turned to dust by intense heat.

 

[NorthStar]

One of the things that you forget Bob is that so many of these huge estates by virtue of their size as well as being located deep in the hills and canyons, and thus they all functioned on propane tanks which were buried under ground.. One the fires hit it was like bombs going off which added fuel to the fire --pun intended

That I didn't know...all those propane tanks.

 

[Uk Paul]

I saw some of Steve Hoffman's video's from his garden, and how the fires died down, then restarted. Truly sad for all of those lost to this..

 

[RogerD]

When I lived on my parents retreat in Nevada City on Highway 20 in the 60’s and 70’s the State and Federal Governments always practiced fire prevention. Busses of Calif Correction inmates were used as necessary laborers to “clean” the Forest floor every Spring and summer. Forest Rangers also issued citations if a large perimeter was not cleared around homes and out buildings. All diseased and dead trees were red tagged to be removed. Yet several bills were either vetoed or signed to absolve PG&E from being held accountable for clearing areas around power lines...btw which was always done on my parents property. Also fire damage liability was transferred from PG&E to the California taxpayer.
Unfortunately these geoengineered fires will continue unless the people demand that politicians, corporate entities are held accountable and face criminal and civil liability for their mismanagement and malfeasance.

https://www.fs.fed.us/eng/aerial_ign/info/documents/resi_lit.pdf

 

[Barry2013]

There has been a lot of media coverage in the Uk of the fires in California and some good in depth articles. Obviously a very serious problem and seemingly a reluctance to face up to the need to take some big decisions to prevent further occurrences.
We had an unprecedented huge moorland fire in the summer on the moors near to Manchester which is generally regarded as one of the wettest areas in the country. It set the peat on fire and took about three weeks to bring it under control and then extinguish. Fortunately there is little or no housing there so people were safe but some serious smoke/air quality problems.
A couple of things have kept cropping up in my mind. Even allowing for the scale of the fires I still wonder why Pardise was hit so badly. May just be me underestimating the scale of the fires and the resultant challenges.
Secondly am I right in thinking that a lot of the houses were of wood construction which is rare in the UK. As an earlier post pointed out the severity of the fires was such that brick/concrete houses were also hit, but presumably the numbers of wooden house exacerbated the problems.

 

[Folsom]

Wood houses are like fuel boxes lined up in neat little rows.

The only way to stop it really is to bulldoze a perimeter of houses. For obvious reasons this has not been done.

 

[RogerD]

Unless radical agendas rooted in revolutionary ideas that were born in universities like UC Berkeley in the early 1960’s and unless Psyops are seen for what they are...to control thought and protect and further political corruption in California and America as a whole,our quality of life will continue under assault. The corruption is systemic and needs to be exposed and our priorities need to be re-evaluated.

 

[Barry2013]

Thanks Folsom and Roger D.
Just watched the You Tube video you posted Roger.
Very enlightening and the prescription makes sense to me.
I guess the big problem is that things will have to get worse before there is any serious response.

 

[NorthStar]

Thx Roger for that TED video.

 

[Folsom]

Thanks Folsom and Roger D.
Just watched the You Tube video you posted Roger.
Very enlightening and the prescription makes sense to me.
I guess the big problem is that things will have to get worse before there is any serious response.

Yes, sadly everyone just goes back to forgetting after the smoke clears... But for some reason things like hurricanes get attention. Perhaps it's just cheaper and easier to makes levees for a city etc.