California Homeowners Are Doomed to Repeat Their Past Mistakes
An insurance industry report shows simple steps that could have slowed the historic Camp and Tubbs Fires haven’t been taken.
On Oct. 8, 2017, sparks from private electric equipment set fire to the dry hills of Northern California’s wine country, but it was only once the flames jumped from the grasslands to densely packed Santa Rosa that the destruction intensified. By the time the Tubbs Fire was fully contained, it had consumed some 5,600 buildings, making it the most destructive in California history.
A year later, transmission lines owned by PG&E Corp. ignited brush in rural Butte County and caused the Camp Fire, which quickly spread into the community of Paradise. By the time it had been controlled, nearly 19,000 structures had been destroyed, easily superseding the damage from Tubbs.