California Wildfires: Is this all about climate change?
Golden State Burning The short answer is a big NO! A longer one needs a few more words. There is currently an overall consensus that the electrical lines running above ground are the main culprit of several of the ongoing disastrous wildfires across the Golden State. According to Wikipedia, the state of California has 26,000 miles of high voltage transmission lines, and 240,000 miles of distribution lines. Distribution lines bring electricity directly to homes: Around 66% of them statewide are above ground. That is a dramatic picture indeed. 66% of California's statewide distribution lines are above ground. For transmission lines, the cost of under-grounding is about $80 million per mile while for distribution lines, the same expense is about $3 million per mile. All that compared to overhead lines at about $800,000 per mile. The state's largest utility, PG&E, has 107,000 miles of distribution lines, 81,000 miles of which are overhead. The cost to convert all of PG&E