After the latest distressing round of California wildfires and blackouts, more needs to be done to improve, not just rebuild, the aged power grid now recognized as causing some of the fires.
As wildfire warnings continue to race through California, utility giants PG&E and Southern California Edison (SCE) are stepping up their fire-risk mitigation plans for workers to harden infrastructure and manage vegetation.
Predicting wildfires and combating them, smart building sensors, 3D-printed building materials, building integrated fire safety systems that go beyond sprinklers and clean-room protection were among the topics discussed Oct. 13-15 at the Society of Fire Protection Engineers’ annual conference and exposition at the Sheraton Grand Resort at Wild Horse Pass near Phoenix.
A federal bankruptcy judge has ruled that a jury should determine whether Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. is responsible for the Tubbs fire of 2017, one of California’s worst wildfires, which could account for as much as two-thirds of the wildfire claims for 2017 and 2018.
San Francisco on June 4 hired a financial advisor as it considers buying distribution assets from the beleaguered utility Pacific Gas & Electric, which filed for voluntary bankruptcy protection in January as it faced more than $30 billion in liabilities stemming from 2017 and 2018 wildfires that burned many thousands of acres and destroyed thousands of structures.
