- [Narrator] This is the Camp Wildfire..On November 8th, 2018,.the fire tore across.a rural section of northern California..It was deadliest and most destructive fire.in California history..It consumed the town of.Paradise in a matter of hours,.forcing its residents to flee in panic..(woman sobbing).- [Woman] Please, God!.- [Woman] Please, God, just let us out!.- [Woman] Let us get out safe!.- [Narrator] An investigation.found that the Camp Fire.was caused by a line.owned by Pacific Gas.and Electric, or PG&E..It was the latest in a string of fires.that ultimately led the.state's largest utility company.to file for bankruptcy,.but with this bankruptcy,.it isn't just shareholders and creditors.who have an interest in.the future of the company..Millions of Californians.rely on the utility.to keep the lights on,.and some are questioning.whether PG&E can be trusted to.do that safely and reliably..That's because,.according to documents reviewed.by the Wall Street Journal,.the company knew for years.its equipment had the.potential to start fires,.yet repeatedly delayed.the necessary upgrades.to make some of its lines safer..This is the story of how.PG&E filed for bankruptcy..(copier humming).(pleasant orchestral music).In 1905, newly-incorporated.Pacific Gas and Electric.was competing with other utilities.to electrify northern California.with power generated high.in the Sierra Nevada..- A vision of a regional power system.was something that.really hadn't been tried.in too many other places around the world..The predecessors to PG&E.built a series of dams.then built long, high-voltage.transmission lines.across the Central.Valley to San Francisco..PG&E emerged really through consolidation.of a number of companies to.serve more and more parts.of northern California with.increasing demands for energy..♪ I wash and dry your.clothes, play your radios ♪.♪ I can heat your coffee pot ♪.Remember, just plug in, I'm Reddy!.- [Narrator] But safety.and reliability issues.have plagued the utility since the '90s..In 1996, PG&E settled a.multi-million-dollar lawsuit.alleging it tainted drinking water.around Hinkley, California..In 2001, the California energy crisis.resulted in rolling blackouts.and drove the corporation's utility arm.to file for bankruptcy, and in 2010,.a PG&E gas pipeline exploded.in San Bruno, California,.killing eight people..PG&E was placed on federal probation.as a result of the explosion.to ensure the utility operated safely.in the communities it served,.and many of those northern.California communities.were growing in rural areas..- A lot of the residential construction.that's occurred over.the last several decades.has been in what we would call.the Wildland-Urban Interface,.the fringe of the built environment,.putting people out into the forest..Since that time, there hasn't been a lot.of new construction of.the backbone system..- [Narrator] Many of the.utility's transmission towers.were constructed in the first.half of the 20th century..Outside of Paradise is a.high-voltage transmission line.owned by PG&E..The 56-mile line, known.as the Caribou-Palermo,.was built in 1921..Its towers and lines tap.into a hydroelectric system.known as the Stairway of Power..PG&E estimated the mean life expectancy.of its high-voltage transmission towers.was 65 years old, but the.company estimated the average age.of all the towers still in service was 68..The oldest towers in the.system were 108 years old..- Equipment like these.high-voltage and low-voltage lines.does fail, but the failure.is low-consequence,.so you'd have an older transmission line.that was nearing the.end of its service life.and something would break.during a big winter storm.in the Sierra, and when the storm ended,.PG&E crews could go out and fix the line..What's changed is when the.power lines fail in California.and the consequences of a failure..- [Narrator] From 2013 to 2019,.a historic drought.swept across California,.killing millions of trees.and greatly increasing the risk of fire..According to a PG&E list.obtained by the Wall Street Journal,.the Caribou-Palermo was one of the grid's.worst performing circuits..It also ran through areas.that were identified.as posing elevated and extreme fire risks..In 2017, PG&E equipment started 18 fires.that killed 22 people, according.to state fire officials..According to an internal.presentation from that same year,.the company said it needed a plan.to replace its steel.structure transmission towers.and better manage its equipment.to prevent it from causing fires..(quietly tense synth music).On the morning of November 8th, 2018,.winds picked up before.sunrise near Paradise..A hook connecting a power line.to a Caribou-Palermo tower failed,.causing the line to strike the tower.and emit sparks that fell to the ground..A few minutes later,.a PG&E worker spotted a.small fire near the tower..That fire grew quickly..- Oh, my God!.(muffled chatter).- [Narrator] By eight a.m.,.local officials had given.the order to evacuate..By 10:45, the fire had.overtaken parts of Paradise..- [Woman] Trying to get out of Paradise..This is bad..- [Man] Oh, my God!.- [Officer] Ladder 13, it's bad!.- [Man] Keep going!.(tense synth music).(engine rumbling).(tense synth music).- [Narrator] By six p.m.,.the fire had completely consumed the town..(dramatic synth music).In the aftermath, the.local sheriff's office.said bodies were found in vehicles,.most likely of people who were.trying to escape the fire..Anthropologists and a.forensic dentist were tasked.with identifying human remains.that sometimes consisted.only of a few bone fragments or teeth..(dramatic synth music).For PG&E, the destruction.caused by the Camp Fire.was an existential threat..The utility faced thousands.of wildfire claims.seeking damages for, amongst other things,.wrongful death, personal.injury, and property damage..From October 2018 to January 2019,.PG&E's market value slid.from about $25 billion to nine billion..By declaring bankruptcy,.the utility's strategy.was to fold these claims.into a bankruptcy proceeding,.allowing the company to.negotiate settlements.with all of its creditors,.including the fire victims..A Wall Street Journal investigation.revealed the company knew.that 57 of the steel towers.on the Caribou-Palermo line.needed hardware replaced.and another 49 towers needed.to be replace entirely.before the Camp Fire..In 2013, PG&E told federal regulators.it had a $30 million.plan to replace equipment.on the Caribou-Palermo line,.but it repeatedly delayed.the project for five years..It was slated to begin.as late as June 2018,.but it didn't happen..(dramatic orchestral music).The utility released a.statement in response.to the Journal's reporting,.saying the scheduled work.wasn't maintenance-related.and that the tower that.malfunctioned before the Camp Fire.wasn't slated to be part of the project..PG&E later acknowledged in federal court.it had long known that.its high-voltage lines.could fail and trigger fires,.but said that such fires.have historically been relatively rare..- [Michael] I think the.utilities in California.recognize that they are operating.in a different world today.and that, if they cause fires,.they won't have a business..- [Narrator] In December 2019,.state investigators.found a dozen violations.the utility had committed.in maintaining its.transmission lines and towers..PG&E acknowledges it still has work to do..Since the Camp Fire, it has.inspected all its towers,.lines, and substations..It identified 1200 immediate safety risks.and another 10,000 less urgent.repairs and is making fixes..It has also committed.to sharing the results.of its inspections with state.regulators and the public..PG&E has also permanently.retired the Caribou-Palermo line..- Well, I think in the long run,.all of the utilities need.to harden their grid..In the short run, and.maybe even the medium-term,.PG&E is also going to be.turning off the power..- [Narrator] Since.2018, PG&E has initiated.several weather-related power shut-offs.to prevent its equipment.from starting more fires,.including one that cut power.to nearly 750,000 homes and businesses..PG&E's future remains uncertain..The utility has reached a.$13.5 billion settlement.with fire victims but.faces an major hurdle.in appeasing the state of California,.which has raised the.specter of a public takeover.if PG&E doesn't enact certain reforms..- If Pacific Gas and Electric is unable.to secure its own fate and future,.then the state will.prepare itself as back-up.for a scenario where we.do that job for them..- People expect that their power.is gonna be on all the time.and that the system will.not cause them to be afraid,.but that's kind of where we live right now.in northern California,.and until that changes,.I think there is gonna be push.for much greater oversight of a company..I think that's a challenging environment.for a utility to operate in,.particularly one that's trying.to get out of bankruptcy..(dramatic orchestral music).
