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What Causes California Fires? Power Lines Can Be a Contributor.
Investigators are still working to identify what caused the spate of fires that ignited around Los Angeles last week, but residents are concerned that electrical infrastructure may have sparked at least one of them.
Since 1992, more than 3,600 wildfires in California have been related to power generation, transmission and distribution, according to data from the U.S. Forest Service. Some of the most destructive fires have been traced back to problems with utility poles and power lines.
Roughly a dozen power line fires have burned more than 200,000 acres in areas northwest of the city since 1970.
Source: CalFire
Extents of recent fires, as of Jan. 13, are outlined in black. By The New York Times
Extent of power line fires near Los Angeles
CalFire releases data on past large wildfires and determines their causes in different natural and human-related categories, such as lightning or arson. The agency lists more than 12,500 fires since the late 1800s, though the causes of more than half are unknown or unidentified.
Lightning and use of equipment are among the most common known causes, but over the past few decades, the share of fires known to be caused by power infrastructure has grown across the state.
At least eight of California’s most destructive wildfires had power-related causes. Those fires are shown in bold. Source: CalFire
By The New York Times
The 20 most destructive California wildfires
Residents of Altadena, Calif., sued Southern California Edison on Monday, saying the utility’s electrical equipment set off the Eaton fire, which has burned more than 13,000 acres and 5,000 structures in the city and neighboring areas. The company has said it is investigating the fire’s origin.
Power distribution lines were found to have caused some of California’s largest-ever fires in recent years.
The Thomas fire in 2017 was started when high winds forced Southern California Edison’s power lines to collide, a situation known as “line slap.” Burning material fell to the ground in the Upper Anlauf Canyon, about 35 miles from the current Palisades fire, and the resulting fire burned for almost 40 days.
The 2018 Camp fire, in Northern California, started when an electrical arc between one of Pacific Gas & Electric’s power lines and a steel tower sent molten metal onto the underlying vegetation. That fire claimed more than 80 lives and destroyed over 18,000 structures.
In the summer of 2021, California’s largest single-source wildfire, the Dixie fire, started when a tree made contact with several of PG&E’s distribution lines near the Cresta Dam in Northern California. Electricity continued flowing in one of the lines, which started the fire, and nearly a million acres across four counties burned.
California isn’t the only state dealing with power-related wildfires in recent years. Texas’ largest wildfire, the Smokehouse Creek fire, burned over a million acres in 2024. Xcel Energy accepted responsibility for the fire after investigators found that high winds had broken a utility pole, causing a power line to fall and ignite the dried grasses below.
Similar situations have caused wildfires in Oregon as well. The 2020 Labor Day fires destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least nine people, in part, after power wasn’t shut down during high winds.
News
Inside Trump’s Touring Exhibition of American Heroes
The museums, designed by conservative nonprofits and Trump appointees, tell the story of early America, from colonization to revolution. The one exhibition looking beyond the early years is the “Wall of American Heroes.” It is a list of 51 people, chosen to illustrate 250 years of American history.
A White House spokesman said they were “individuals who shaped this nation’s history, culture and spirit across generations.”
The people pictured on this national honor roll — and the people left out — help illustrate what this administration sees as the highlights of American history.
Amid the administration’s efforts to reshape the nation’s relationship with its past, Trump appointees heavily weighted the list toward a single era of American history — and a few specific kinds of hero.
The other exhibitions in the Freedom Trucks were crafted by a pair of conservative nonprofits, PragerU and Hillsdale College. But the “Wall of American Heroes” was created by Freedom 250, a nonprofit effort whose leaders were chosen by President Trump and that was created to lead the planning of celebrations of the nation’s 250th birthday, overshadowing a bipartisan congressional commission.
A spokeswoman for Freedom 250 said Mr. Trump was not directly involved in the selection of those featured.
But the list clearly tracks Mr. Trump’s own lifetime and the heroes of the conservative political movement.
The wall’s tilt toward heroes of the baby boomer generation, for instance, extends beyond Hollywood stars and musicians. Of the four religious leaders on the list, two — Archbishop Fulton Sheen and the Rev. Billy Graham — also appeared on TV regularly in the 1950s and 1960s. The only painter on the list is Norman Rockwell, known for his idealized depictions of American life in that period.
By contrast, there is only a handful of figures from the first decades of American independence.
“That’s a disservice, if your intention is to present the last 250 years,” said Sarah Weicksel, the executive director of the American Historical Association. “Because all of the people on this list are building on the work and struggles and progress that was made by the people in the 150 years prior.”
The “Wall of American Heroes” was inspired by a similar display in a traveling museum created by the State of Virginia. But Virginia’s display celebrates little-known historical figures.
Mr. Trump’s, by and large, celebrates people who are already well-known — and, often, people who were famous in their own time. For example, it praises P.T. Barnum, a circus impresario who used hoaxes and freak shows to draw crowds. The wall calls him an “icon of American sensationalism.”
The spokeswoman for Freedom 250 said that many of the names on the wall were drawn from a list of 250 people that Mr. Trump wants to include in a “Garden of American Heroes” in Washington.
The spokeswoman declined to say what criteria were used to narrow down the list.
The only president whose name appears on the wall — not on the list of heroes, but alongside his quotation — is Mr. Trump himself.
Explore the Wall of Heroes
Navigate the display by dragging from side to side.
News
GOP Rep. Tom Kean, missing from Congress for months, set to return on June 30
Washington — Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey will return to Congress on June 30, his spokesperson said, after being away since March in an unexplained absence that has confounded Capitol Hill.
“Congressman Kean is eager to return to in person work on June 30 and resume a full schedule,” Kean’s spokesperson, Harrison Neely, told CBS News on Thursday. The New Jersey Globe first reported on his return date.
Kean’s whereabouts since he last voted on March 5 have not been disclosed. When he first made a statement about the absence in late April, the New Jersey Republican said he was addressing a “personal medical issue.”
Kean said earlier this month that he would return to Washington within a matter of weeks, at which point he would provide more details about his health.
“Right now I am focused on my recovery and under the advice of healthcare professionals, I will transition from virtual work to in person work within a matter of weeks. At that time I will be completely transparent as to the nature of my medical condition,” Kean said in a June 2 statement released by his campaign.
The statement came hours before polls closed in New Jersey’s GOP primary for his seat, in which he ran unopposed.
He has missed more than 130 votes during his absence.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters earlier this month that he had recently spoken with Kean. Johnson said he was aware of the health issue, but would not disclose the details.
“What he’s dealing with is not very common and not a big thing,” Johnson said.
News
Video: Obama Presidential Center Opens in Chicago
new video loaded: Obama Presidential Center Opens in Chicago
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