California’s Wildfire (and Blackout) Season Is Coming to a Close
California’s Wildfire (and Blackout) Season Is Coming to a Close
(Bloomberg) -- California’s long and brutal wildfire season is finally nearing an end.
Most of the region is still running short on precipitation after months of bone-dry weather, but rain and snow pounding the state on Wednesday “could mean the end of fire season for many, especially in higher elevations where accumulating snow occurred,” California’s largest power company, PG&E Corp., said. More storms are forecast to hit California this weekend and may continue into December, the San Francisco-based utility said.
It’s welcome news in the Golden State, where dry weather punctuated by periods of extreme winds contributed to massive wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of homes in recent weeks. The season also brought about widespread blackouts as PG&E and the state’s other utilities cut service to keep their power lines from sparking blazes during wind storms. Millions of Californians lost electricity, sometimes for days, last month.
PG&E went bankrupt in January after its equipment was blamed for igniting wildfires in 2017 and 2018, burying the company in an estimated $30 billion in liabilities.
The rains arrived too late to prevent one last major blaze from breaking out -- the Cave Fire, which erupted Monday in the hills above Santa Barbara. But the storm that was spreading across the state from north to south on Wednesday was expected to help firefighters battle the flames. The fire was 20% contained on Wednesday and had burned more than 4,000 acres.
To contact the reporter on this story: David R. Baker in San Francisco at dbaker116@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net, Joe Ryan
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