An energy company may be responsible for the Dixie Fire, which ravaged California for 103 days last year, officials say.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection wrote in a news release on Tuesday that its investigators had determined the Dixie Fire’s origin to be a tree that made contact with “electrical distribution lines.” The lines were owned and operated by the gas company Pacific Gas and Electric, located west of Cresta Dam, California, officials said.
PG&E said the tree making contact with its lines “was one of more than 8 million trees within strike distance” in a statement shared with the Washington Examiner. The company also cited its 2021 Wildfire Mitigation Plan, which will include burying 10,000 miles of power lines and thereby reduce the likelihood of starting fires via friction with trees.
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“Regardless of today’s finding, we will continue to be tenacious in our efforts to stop fire ignitions from our equipment and to ensure that everyone and everything is always safe,” the company stated.
The Dixie Fire began on July 13 of last year and was not contained until over three months later on Oct. 25. A total of 963,309 acres were scorched across five counties, resulting in 1,329 structures destroyed and an additional 95 damaged. The fire also had one fatality, according to CAL Fire.
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The Dixie Fire was the second-biggest wildfire in California’s history. The state’s biggest wildfire, the August Complex, began in August 2020 and burned through 1,032,648 acres, the state fire department reported.
The state’s fire protection agency urged state residents to “remain vigilant and be prepared for wildfire.”
