San Diego Fire Victim Lawyers

SDG&E Caused the October Wildfires

San Diego Fire Victims Lawyers retained renowned national utilities and metallurgical experts who participated in a week-long inspection at the point of origin of the Witch Creek Fire in early June 2008. SDFVL has also conducted inspections of the points of origin of the Guejito and Rice Fires.  SDFVL experts determined that the Witch Creek Fire was caused by power lines blowing together in the wind, arcing, and igniting dried grass. They determined that the Guejito and Rice Fires were also caused by SDG&E power lines.

Power lines do not have to actually touch each other to burn.  If they come close to one another, electricity will jump from one line to the other--an electrical arc.  An SDFVL consultant has built a live high voltage electrical model to demonstrate arcing.  Click on the photograph below to see a demonstration.

Watch Video of Electrical Arcing

When electrical lines arc, they melt the lines just like using a welding iron.  Molten material comes loose, falls to the ground, and ignites dry grass or brush.

Section of Power Line at Point of Origin of Which Creek Fire
with Transfer of Molten Material and Portion of Aluminum Stand Missing

Additional findings from the investigation by San Diego Fire Victims Lawyers and their experts and more photographs are available to clients of San Diego Fire Victims Lawyers who may access the information and photographs by entering username and password at the end of this page.  This confidential page for clients will also be updated from time to time with findings from the ongoing investigation by San Diego Fire Victims Lawyers and their experts.

Evidence obtained by San Diego Fire Victims Lawyers also establishes that SDG&E violated its own practices and protocols, an act of gross negligence that contributed to the Witch Creek Fire.

On July 9, 2008, Cal Fire released its complete report concerning the Witch Creek, Guejito, and Rice Fires. Cal Fire determined that the Witch Creek, Guejito, and Rice Fires were all caused by SDG&E:

• Cal Fire concluded that the Witch Creek Fire was caused by SDG&E power lines arcing and igniting grasses below the lines, just as SDFVL's consultant and experts concluded. Cal Fire also concluded that the lines faulted four times.
• Cal Fire concluded that the Guejito Fire was caused by an SDG&E and Cox Cable line arcing.
• Cal Fire concluded that downed SDG&E power lines and a tree growing up into the lines caused the Rice Fire.

You may access the full Cal Fire report by clicking here: CAL FIRE - Fire Protection - Red Sheets

SDG&E media representatives have repeatedly referred to the Santa Ana winds at the time of the fire as "hurricane-force" winds.  In Florida, where there are hurricanes, power companies are designing systems to withstand winds up to 150 miles per hour. (One of SDFVL's experts is an engineering and electric utilities expert from Florida who worked for thirty years for electrical utility companies in Florida and has operated a private consulting and forensic investigation company for the past fifteen years.)

Santa Ana winds and their ability to rapidly spread fires have long been a well known fact of life in Southern California. In San Diego County, for example, Santa Ana winds quickly spread the Harmony Grove Fire of 1996, destroying a hundred homes. And fires caused by power lines, in particular, have also been a long and well known danger. For example, the 1970 Laguna Fire was caused by power lines and resulted in eight deaths and the loss of 400 homes; and the 1993 Guejito Fire destroyed many homes also. SDFVL attorney Terry Singleton obtained recoveries against SDG&E for 57 people who lost homes and property in the Guejito Fire.

Also in 1993, Santa Ana winds blew Southern California Edison power lines together, causing them to ignite a brush fire. In a published opinion by the California Court of Appeal, Barham v. Southern California Edison, which is precedent in this case, the Court found that Southern California Edison was responsible for fire victims' losses from the fire because the fire resulted from Southern California Edison's design, installation, operation, and maintenance of the power lines. SDG&E certainly knew, therefore, that it must account for Santa Ana winds in the design, installation, operation, and maintenance of its power lines.

Click here to view the Guejito and Witch fire perimeter map.

Indeed, the Power Line Fire Prevention Field Guide, 2001 Edition, a collaboration by Cal Fire, the U.S. Department of Forestry, SDG&E, PG&E, and Southern California Edison, includes the following:

The potential exists that power line caused fires will become conflagrations during the long, hot and dry fire season commonly experienced in California. The very same weather conditions that contribute to power line faults also lead and contribute to the rapid spread of wildfire. The most critical of these weather factors is high wind, which is commonly accompanied by high temperatures and low humidity.

...High winds may also create vibrations in power lines that can lead to stress failures or cause loose connections to separate. Arcing usually accompanies such faults. Automatic reclosers re-energizing the line into the fault may cause repeated arcing and increase the probability of igniting vegetation.

For this reason, SDG&E drafted a Fire Plan in 2006 which included implementing a "Red Flag Warning System" under which, during high winds, "Transmission lines and/or distribution circuits, which have tripped to lockout, will not be tested manually or remotely until the line or line segment has been patrolled or the cause of the interruption has been identified and isolated, or repaired." But Cal Fire concluded that the SDG&E lines at the point of origin of the Witch Creek Fire faulted four times, meaning that SDG&E did not "patrol" the lines before re-energizing the lines. In a July 9, 2008 "Media Statement," SDG&E announced that it is "changing operational procedures during hot, dry weather to disable electrical switches that are designed to re-energize the power lines automatically after an outage" and that "instead, we'll restore power only after we've visually inspected the line and determined it is safe to do so." But this was already required under the 2001 Power Line Fire Prevention Field Guide. The Witch Creek Fire was thus caused, not by deficient operations standards, but by SDG&E's failure to follow existing standards.

The Guejito fire was caused by SDG&E power lines and a Cox Communications cable lashing wire blowing into one another as a result of improper design of an 872-foot span, improper operational practices, and poor maintenance.  A Cal Fire Battalion Chief and Strike Team witnessed arcing at the SDG&E power lines at the point of origin of the Guejito Fire.  Cal Fire investigators inspected the power lines and lashing wire and found burn marks and places where the lashing wire was actually "fused to the power line."  The burned and fused power lines were in a span where the distance between the two poles is 872 feet.  This is an excessive distance between poles, which allows too much play in the lines, and contributed to the lines blowing in the wind and causing the fire.

The Rice Fire was caused by SDG&E's failure to trim trees near the power lines.  As a result, the trees blew into the power lines and caused arcing and sparking.  The arcing and sparking caused the power lines to break in two places, one on each side of Rice Canyon Road, and fall to the ground.  Cal Fire investigators found and interviewed witnesses who saw sparking and fire in two places.  Investigators found downed power lines where the witnesses saw the sparking and fire.  Investigators observed "spackling" on the lines "indicative of the line coming in contact with vegetation," in other words trees.

Additional information from the investigation by SDFVL and its experts is available to clients only, login and password required.