PG&E Attorneys: Tubbs Fire Cause May Have Been Private Equipment

NORTH BAY, CA — Attorneys for PG&E said Thursday that a preliminary investigation suggests the deadly Tubbs fire in Napa and Sonoma counties last month might have been caused by privately-owned, installed and maintained electrical equipment, and that arson also is a possibility. The utility giant's suggestion in a 19-page petition asks the Judicial Council of California not to consolidate the growing number of lawsuits filed by fire victims before one court in San Francisco.

PG&E said there were 30 fires in 12 counties in October, and that 15 complaints on behalf of 120 plaintiffs have been filed in San Francisco, Napa and Sonoma County Superior Courts.

The PG&E petition asks the Judicial Council to coordinate the numerous lawsuits into five separate actions, one for each of the fires or groups of fires that occurred in the 12 counties.

Coordination of the fires will provide transparency in the process for all plaintiffs and allow common evidentiary issues, most significantly issues relating to the causation of each fire, to be addressed in a single
ruling, PG&E's attorneys said.

PG&E's attorneys said although the 120 plaintiffs are represented by 15 law firms, the plaintiffs' petition to hear the suits in San Francisco was filed by just five firms on behalf of a subset of the plaintiffs.

"These firms are attempting to seize control of the proceedings from the rest of the plaintiffs' bar and have contended that proceedings relating to all 30 fires should be coordinated in a single action in San Francisco, a county that has no ties to any of the fires and that is a potential venue only because PG&E is headquartered there," PG&E's attorneys said.

The lawsuits against PG&E allege negligence, failure to maintain electrical equipment and trim vegetation away from power lines, trespass, nuisance and wrongful death.

PG&E said the first fire, the Tubbs fire which killed 23 people, started off state Highway 128 and Bennett Lane in Calistoga around 9:45 p.m. Oct. 8.

PG&E acknowledged the cause of the Tubbs fire remains under investigation, but according to a preliminary investigation, CalFire on Oct. 26 took possession of a set of three in-service distribution line fused cutouts, two sets of in-service transformer fused cutouts and a secondary service line that had detached from a fire damaged home near Calistoga. The home's exact location was redacted from an email about that PG&E electric safety incident report.

CalFire also took possession of multiple sections of customer-owned overhead conductor that served multiple pieces of customer-owned equipment on the property, and no damage to PG&E equipment was readily apparent, according to the email.

"The CalFire and California Public Utilities Commission investigations are still ongoing. They haven't determined the cause of any of the wildfires yet. Our motion speaks for itself," PG&E spokesperson Ari Vanrenen said.

By Bay City News Service

Photo: Fire from a distant mountain burns over a small fire in Kenwood, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Some of the largest blazes in Northern California were in Napa and Sonoma counties, home to dozens of wineries that attract tourists from around the world. (Jeff Chiu/Associated Press)