PG&E has agreed to pay a $7 million fine for alleged safety violations related to the 2022 Edgewood Fire in Redwood City.
The California Public Utilities Commission, which confirmed the agreement to SFGATE on Friday, levied the fine in May after finding it violated 10 rules around safety maintenance. While it was not one of California’s largest or most destructive fires, the 2022 blaze injured four firefighters and burned 20 acres, causing nearly $2 million in damages to utility facilities.
The cause of the fire was “most likely” contact between two circuits without proper distance between the two, CPUC regulators found in their May 16 report. Insufficient clearance between the two was identified as far back as 2016 and then again in 2020. Other instances of insufficient distance between conductors were found in 2019 and 2022, before the fire erupted on June 21 of that year. Between 2018 and 2022, PG&E inspected the area 19 times, according to the CPUC report.
The fire, which began in Woodside, caused evacuation orders for nearby residents, and more than 2,700 people lost power, CPUC regulators wrote. It took five days to fully contain…