REGION: State bills SDG&E $21 million

CalFire trying to recover costs of fighting 2007 Witch Creek, Rice fires

By TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer | Friday, August 29, 2008 4:41 PM PDT ∞

It cost California more than $21 million to fight last fall's Witch Creek and Rice wildfires, and the state wants San Diego Gas & Electric Co. to foot the bill.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection sent a letter to the utility last month, asking that it pay more than $13.4 million to cover the cost of fighting the massive Witch Creek fire, which the state's fire agency says was started by downed SDG&E power lines.

CalFire also wants the power company to pay it the nearly $8 million it cost to fight the Rice fire, which swept through Rainbow and Fallbrook.

The letters are dated July 18, about a week after state fire officials released a report concluding that SDG&E's power lines sparked the blazes, which started during Santa Ana conditions last October.

On Tuesday, CalFire provided the North County Times with copies of the letters it sent to SDG&E demanding payment.

The bills are not a surprise. The fire agency said it routinely seeks reimbursement from entities it blames for starting a blaze.

The largest reimbursement in CalFire's history was about $10 million from another utility.

SDG&E spokeswoman Stephanie Donovan said Tuesday that SDG&E has paid firefighting costs in very limited amounts following different, smaller fires.

"We occasionally receive these kinds of letters, but only occasionally," Donovan said, "because not many fires are started by SDG&E."

Downed power lines reportedly account for a 2 percent of vegetation fires started in 2006, according to CalFire's Web site.

Donovan said the primary culprit for the wildfires was "hurricane-force" winds, and not the utility's power lines.

"In our opinion, the fires were caused by the weather conditions last fall," Donovan said. "These kind of extreme conditions created a huge hazard for everybody, including the electrical system."

In the report released last month, forestry and fire protection officials concluded winds reaching more than 80 mph slapped overhead wires against each other, sending showers of sparks into dry grass below on a Ramona-area ranch to start the 198,000-acre Witch Creek fire.

And the 9,472-acre Rice fire, the agency concluded, was also sparked by SDG&E's power lines. Before firefighters knocked down the blaze, it destroyed 206 homes, 40 outbuildings and two commercial properties.

If SDG&E balks at the bills, the state has the option of filing a civil suit.

If it does, it would join the 29 other suits thus far filed against the utility, seeking money for damages wrought by the wildfires.

Asked if the CalFire bills and the court cases will mean higher rates for customers, Donovan said it is "premature to speculate on outcome, including (an increase) in rates."

She also said the insurance carried by the utility "will likely be adequate to cover any damages should this go to trial."

The court cases are still very much in their infancy, and the judge is still working through logistics on how to proceed.

On top of the bills, the state agency has the option of asking for misdemeanor criminal charges against SDG&E. Last month, a CalFire spokeswoman said the agency might do so.

But on Tuesday, Tom Hoffman, CalFire's chief of law enforcement, said that in large cases like these fires, it's uncommon to chase criminal charges.

That, he said, is because the bottom line is fire prevention, and recouping costs has been more effective than filing minor criminal charges.

"We're in the business of preventing fires," Hoffman said, "and if people know they can be held financially liable for their negligence, it has been my experience that it does modify behaviors."

And though the bills sent to SDG&E didn't come as a surprise to Terry Singleton, one of the attorneys representing dozens of property owners hit by the massive wildfires, he said Tuesday that the $21 million amount the state is seeking was unexpected.

"I thought it would have been higher," attorney Singleton said. "That seems to me to be a conservative figure."

The largest settlement CalFire has ever landed in recovering the cost of fighting a fire came a few years ago, when Northern California utility company Pacific Gas & Electric agreed to pay about $10 million for costs to suppress the 2001 Poe fire.

That blaze, also sparked by downed power lines, burned for six days and destroyed 47 homes and 120 outbuildings in rural Butte County, north of Sacramento.

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 740-5442 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.