Did Kincade Fire threatening Geyserville start at geothermal power plant? – The Mercury News

Uploaded by on October 24, 2019 at 5:48 pm

Thanks! Share it with your friends!

Close

The raging wildfire threatening Geyserville north of San Francisco erupted around The Geysers, the world’s largest complex of geothermal plants where steam from deep in the ground has been tapped for nearly a century to produce electricity.

Initial fire dispatch reports indicated the fire started — possibly with wires down — at 9:27 p.m. Wednesday, even as Pacific Gas and Electric Co. had cut power to nearly 28,000 households and businesses in the area that afternoon to reduce wildfire risk.

Expand

CLICK HERE if you are having a problem viewing the photos on a mobile device

“A vegetation fire reported as in The Geysers,” a Sonoma County Fire and Cal Fire dispatcher reported around 9:27 p.m. Wednesday. “Also possible power lines down in the area — all units acknowledge life safety hazard.”

On Thursday morning, there was still no indication of how the fire started.

Will Powers, a spokesman with Cal Fire — the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection — said Thursday there are no confirmed reports of power lines being down in the area and the dispatcher’s advisory may have just been a precaution.

“I don’t have any reports of lines down,” Powers said. “I haven’t had any confirmation of that.”

PG&E spokesman Paul Doherty said the Kincade Fire is near the “footprint” of the “public safety power shutdown” the utility initiated in the area around 3 that afternoon to reduce risk of power lines sparking an inferno as warm, dry winds prompted “red flag” wildfire warnings.

But Doherty said the utility had no further information and referred additional questions to Cal Fire. He could not answer whether the Geysers plant was producing power at the time, whether outgoing high-voltage lines were charged or de-energized as part of the planned power shutoff, or whether any power lines were down.

The Geyserville area saw winds of 21 mph and gusts up to 42 mph around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, peaking around midnight at 52 mph with gusts up to 76 mph, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Drew Peterson.

Calpine, a Houston-based energy company and the largest geothermal power producer in the U.S., owns and operates 13 power plants at The Geysers that generate up to 725 megawatts of electricity — enough to power a city the size of San Francisco.

Calpine spokesman Brett Kerr said that “due to the wind conditions, we had de-energized our local power line system before the fire started.”

“We do not believe our facilities caused the fire,” Kerr said, but added: “There are power lines operated by third parties across The Geysers.”

“The Kincade Fire flashed through a portion of our Geysers geothermal facilities late yesterday,” Kerr said. “All employees are safe and accounted for. We believe there is relatively minor damage to our facilities and further threat has passed. As safety permits and daylight arrives, we will conduct a thorough assessment. Some of our operations have been temporarily suspended but we expect production will resume very soon.”

The uncontained Kincade Fire has burned 10,000 acres and two buildings east of Geyserville, a Sonoma County Wine Country hamlet north of San Francisco.

The steam beds have a rich history. Tribal people had come to the area for healing and ceremonies. In the mid-1800s the steam beds became a tourist destination. According to Calpine, entrepreneurs in 1923 built a 35-kilowatt power plant there that produced the first geothermal electricity in the Americas. PG&E in 1960 opened the first commercial geothermal plant at The Geysers, and Calpine began operating plants there in 1989.

Fire dispatchers Wednesday night indicated the Kincade Fire originated in the area of Kincade Road and Burned Mountain Road “at The Geysers 9 and 10,” plants. They coordinated access for firefighters with Calpine, which operated the plants.

PG&E equipment has been blamed for sparking a host of recent devastating wildfires, including many deadly blazes that roared through the Wine Country in 2017, as well as the Camp Fire that destroyed the town of Paradise east of Chico last year, the state’s deadliest and most destructive.

Facing multi-billion dollar liability claims, PG&E in January filed for bankruptcy protection. PG&E began initiating “public safety power shutoffs” last year, something San Diego Gas and Electric has used effectively to reduce wildfire danger since the deadly 2007 Witch Fire. PG&E was criticized for its decision not to de-energize high-voltage lines near Paradise during strong fall winds that sparked the Camp Fire.

Wednesday’s power shutoffs in the Wine Country, Sierra Foothills and parts of the coast between San Francisco and Santa Cruz, are the second largest PG&E has initiated to date, following an even larger blackout over much of the Bay Area and Northern California two weeks ago. With strong dry winds in the forecast, additional outages may be needed this weekend, PG&E said

 

Source Article from http://www.mercurynews.com/did-kincade-fire-threatening-geyserville-start-at-geothermal-power-plant

Comments

Write a comment