State regulators said Pacific Gas & Electric failed to adequately inspect and maintain aging power lines that started last year’s devastating Camp fire, which obliterated the town of Paradise and killed 86 people. In a 696-page report filed last week, investigators with the California Public Utilities Commission cited PG&E for violating a dozen state safety rules and regulations. PG&E “failed to maintain an effective inspection and maintenance program to identify and correct hazardous conditions on its transmission lines,” the report says. PG&E filed for bankruptcy protection in January in part because of losses from the November 2018 fire. “We remain deeply sorry about the role our equipment had in this tragedy, and we apologize to all those impacted by the devastating Camp Fire,” spokesman Paul Doherty told the Chronicle.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 03, 2019 06:33 UTC