PG&E Confirms Downed Powerline In Same Area Of Kincade Fire Wednesday Night
SONOMA COUNTY (CBS13) — As the Kincade Fire explodes in size, prompting thousands of evacuations, PG&E confirmed Thursday they had a downed powerline in the same area where the Kincade Fire started Wednesday night.
By Thursday night, the Kincade Fire was 16,000 acres, 5% contained and had destroyed 49 structures, according to Cal Fire.
Cal Fire reports the fire ignited at Kincade Road near Burned Mountain Road, the same intersection where PG&E told regulators they had a transmission outage Wednesday night around 9:20 p.m.
Now PG&E says it did de-energize the smaller distribution lines in the area, but they say the larger transmission lines, which carry power up and down the state, remained energized because the wind speed did not trigger de-energizing those lines per Public Safety Power Shutoff protocol.
READ ALSO: PG&E Issues 'All Clear' To Begin Inspecting Lines, Restoring Power To Foothills
"What appears to be a broken jumper on one of our transmission towers, a jumper is simply a piece of wire that jumps the conductor over the insulator. Cal Fire had taped off the area around this base of the tower is investigating this subject," PG&E CEO Bill Johnson said.
PG&E said that line was inspected earlier this year as part of the Wildlife Inspection program.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
