Kirk Eadie, a pastor and ambulance driver in Happy Camp, says that’s what he heard on his emergency radio Tuesday morning as fire crews responded to the blaze. Anecdotal accounts also point to power lines. But a lawsuit filed against the company alleges it started when a white fir tree weakened by rot and disease failed and fell into Pacific Power’s power lines on Slater Butte. Six months later, the fire’s cause is still under investigation. Stoked by the intense winds, it grew into a conflagration that eventually burned 157,000 acres in California and Oregon, destroyed 440 structures and killed two people. 8, near the Slater Butte fire lookout, a site within Pacific Power’s designated Happy Camp power shut-off zone where the utility operates transmission and distribution lines. What came to be known as the Slater Fire ignited about 6:40 a.m. ![]() Large utilities further south did the same, and in Oregon, Portland General Electric also shut off power to 5,000 customers on the shoulder of Mt. Meanwhile, in communities to the east and west of Happy Camp, California’s largest electric utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, had shut off electricity on Monday evening, citing critical risks and the high probability that winds could take down power lines and start fires. While Pacific Power wasn’t required to cut electricity, an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive found that forecasts for the area - then actual weather conditions within the power shutoff zone - surpassed the thresholds the utility had established for preemptive blackouts. It was already feeding a series of wildfires in Oregon and Washington, some of them sparked by downed power lines.īut Pacific Power never pulled the plug in Happy Camp - or elsewhere on Labor Day. An extreme windstorm that had been forecast for days was pushing down the West Coast. Utility officials explained they would potentially cut power when forecasts and real time weather data exceeded defined benchmarks, including wind speed, drought conditions and potential for fire spread.įourteen months later, those conditions arrived. Blackouts aren’t popular, and they would only be used as a last resort. As residents munched hot dogs, the utility’s representatives explained its plans to preemptively cut off power in a zone around Happy Camp to protect the community when it was most at risk. ![]() The plan showed that Happy Camp is directly west of one of the highest risk areas for wildfire in Pacific Power’s rural California service territory. In June 2019, Pacific Power representatives attended a community fair in Happy Camp, California, 20 miles south of the Oregon border, to share highlights of the wildfire prevention plan the company had been required to file months earlier with California regulators.
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