Neglect of 17 years caused California blaze, probe shows
Crew had not climbed and inspected failed tower and hook in that time, commission says
San Francisco — Bankrupt utility giant PG&E for years failed to properly inspect and maintain its transmission system — an oversight that led a live wire to fall and ignite the deadliest blaze in California history in 2018, state investigators said.
A PG&E crew had not climbed and inspected the tower and hook that failed, sparking the catastrophic Camp Fire, in 17 years, a California Public Utilities Commission investigation made public on Monday shows. The company would have discovered that the hook had worn down if it had checked the tower, and its “timely replacement could have prevented” the blaze from happening, the commission’s safety division said in the near 700-page report...
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