Utility equipment from Pacific Gas & Electric Co. may have sparked the Dixie fire, which has scorched more than 30,000 acres in Butte and Plumas counties over the past week, according to a report the utility company filed Sunday.
PG&E said in the report submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission that an employee responding to an outage Tuesday noticed a blown fuse at Cresta Dam in a heavily forested area of Butte County around the Feather River Canyon. The worker approached the pole about 4:40 p.m. and found two blown fuses and a tree leaning into a power lines conductor, “which was still intact and suspended on the poles,” the report said. “He also observed a fire on the ground near the base of the tree.”
The worker removed a third fuse that hadn’t blown, reported the fire, and his supervisor called 911, according to the
document.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials quickly swarmed the area, dropping fire retardant and water. But by 8 a.m. Wednesday, the blaze had grown to 500 acres. Dangerous fire weather conditions followed, with gusty winds and low humidity, leading Cal Fire to issue a red flag warning. By Wednesday evening, the fire — by then dubbed the Dixie fire — had
reached 2,200 acres and was 0% contained.