Just a Small Thing

The transmission tower northeast of Paradise hadn’t been subjected to a “climbing inspection” since 2001, in violation of PG&E’s own safety policies, the PUC report said. “A climbing inspection of the Incident Tower during that time could have identified the worn C-hook before it failed, and ... its timely replacement could have prevented ignition of the Camp Fire.”  --- Fresno Bee

The Camp Fire killed 85 people, destroyed the town of Paradise and 18,804 structures and burned 153,336 acres.  PG&E has agreed to a $13.5 billion settlement that will compensate individual and government agencies for the damages and costs associated with a number of wildfires caused by PG&E equipment failures over the past four years.  There are things this money can't replace.  How do you compensate people for the loved ones lost?  PG&E failed the people of California, but insured that it's shareholders got dividends and that executives got big pay raises while cutting costs by skipping maintenance.