Does anyone remember the "Saddle Ridge Hoard" of gold coins? On the news today: The Saddleridge Fire, near Sylmar, had been listed at 1,600 acres as of 2 a.m. — but two hours later it was at 4,600 acres (6½ square miles), the Los Angeles Fire Department said. There was no containment.
It's one of those 50-50 problems as the company was sued for losses by 'faulty installation and maintenance' in urban/rural areas they knew they couldn't. So with environmental changes, fires from equipment damage such as lines in winds, their loses became huge. So they decided to just turn the power off when a threatening wind is forecast. My brother lives in a city in their service area and said the local harbor freights store are out of generators. Jim
It's not the Saddle Ridge of the hoard. The finders of the hoard have kept their identity secret. They found the hoard on their ranch and gave it the name Saddle Ridge. But it's a name for a feature on their ranch that is known to them alone ... it's not on any map. In addition, the hoard was found in N. Calif.; the fire is in S. Calif. Cal
Topped out at around 7,000 acres...44% containment..1 death from heart attack..wind reversed direction finally..only 23 homes lost.. caused by arching high voltage line in 60 mph wind gusts.
Power companies are in a tough spot ... partly of their own doing. If poles or lines go down or contact trees, they get the blame for the fire. If they turn off power, they get cursed for that. Partly their own doing because they haven't kept up with brush clearing and tree trimming. There are property rights limits on this though. In many cases, they aren't allowed wide enough easements to trim all trees that might fall on the lines. They also get flack from property owners who don't want their pretty redwoods wacked ... same folks who'll sue them after a fire. Government regs are partly at fault too. Building codes should require all new wires to be underground (where feasible) in fire-prone areas. Cal
And if they hit the power company with claims on this years fire(s), they will probably blackout an even larger area next year.
Kinda ironic that several areas were blacked out, but not that particular line...another fire some 50 miles to the east was caused by a burning garbage truck earlier that day. 74 mobile homes were lost with 1 dead and 1 missing. The driver just dumped the burning load in the wind!
