SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Pacific Gas & Electric power lines sparked last summer’s Dixie Fire in Northern California that swept through five counties and burned more than 1,300 homes and other buildings, state fire officials said Tuesday.
The blaze was caused by a tree hitting electrical distribution lines west of a dam in the Sierra Nevada, where the blaze began on July 13, according to investigators with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The finding was no surprise. PG&E already had indicated its equipment may have been involved in the Dixie Fire, which burned nearly 1 million acres (3,900 square kilometers) in Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta, and Tehama counties.
It was the second-largest fire in state history and the latest of several of California’s largest and deadliest blazes to be blamed PG&E equipment over the last decade.
“This tree was one of more than 8 million trees within strike distance to PG&E lines,” PG&E said in a statement. “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.”