PG&E Corporation shared the following statement from CEO Patti Poppe regarding criminal charges filed by the district attorney’s office of Shasta County related to the September-2020 Zogg Fire.
“We are all devastated by the effects of wildfire here in California. My heart aches. I have seen firsthand how devastating it is and have spoken with many of those most harmed. These communities are the hometowns where my coworkers live and work, too. While I am new to this environment, I hope my heart never becomes hardened to the devastation that catastrophic wildfire can cause.
I came to PG&E to make it right and make it safe, which is a commitment that my 40,000 coworkers and contract partners all share. We’ve already resolved many victim claims arising from the Zogg Fire, along with the claims by the counties of Shasta and Tehama. And we are working hard to resolve the remaining claims.
We’ve accepted CAL FIRE’s determination, reached earlier this year, that a tree contacted our electric line and started the Zogg Fire. We accept that conclusion. But we did not commit a crime.
Today's climate and unprecedented drought have forever changed the relationship between trees and power lines. And please know we’re not sitting idly by. We have established a new standard for our lines and the vegetation near them because it poses such a real risk to our communities.
For example, on the Zogg Fire, the tree that started the fire is one of over 8 million trees within striking distance to our lines. Here are a few other facts.
Between October 2018 and last year’s Zogg Fire:
- Two trained arborists walked this line and independent of one another determined the tree in question could stay.
- We trimmed or removed over 5000 trees on this very circuit alone.
- This year we will remove 300,000 trees statewide.
This vital safety work is all done by real people who are trying every day to do the right thing. Trained, professional people - my PG&E coworkers and our extended contractor family. Arborists, specifically, are trained professionals and sometimes, just like doctors or architects, they can have professional differences. There will be debates about the facts around the tree that started the Zogg Fire. Professional debate in the service of doing what is right and continuously improving.
This was a tragedy, four people died. And my coworkers are working so hard to prevent fires and the catastrophic losses that come with them. They have dedicated their careers to it, criminalizing their judgment is not right. Failing to prevent this fire is not a crime.
Right now, PG&E is:
- Investing more than US$1.4 billion this year alone in vegetation management;
- Removing 300,000 trees and trimming 1 million more;
- We’re working toward burying 10,000 miles of power lines;
- We’re installing remote and micro grids to eliminate the wires altogether; and
- We’re reestablishing and building our system to a new standard of resilience that keeps our communities safe and powered as our climate continues to change around us.
We are seeing signs of progress. For example, even during this year, with extreme drought conditions, we have reduced our ignitions over 50%.
That is our best ever performance since we have been tracking this and yet, we are still dissatisfied. That’s why we are not going to stop there.
We’re putting everything we’ve got into preventing wildfires and reducing the risk. Though it may feel satisfying for the company of PG&E to be charged with a crime, what I know is the company of PG&E is people, 40,000 people who get up every day to make it safe and to end catastrophic wildfire and tragedies like this.
Let’s be clear, my coworkers are not criminals. We welcome our day in court so people can learn just that.”
Poppe’s statement is also available on PG&E Currents and broadcast quality video is available here.
Details about PG&E’s efforts to further reduce the growing wildfire risk, harden its systems, and use new technologies to help keep its communities safe can be found in the company’s 2021 Wildfire Mitigation Plan.
