NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - 55

VIEWPOINTS ON FIRE
AND LIFE SAFETY
corporate greed all factor into the
drama that Blunt skillfully presents.
More often than not, it is residents and
first responders who must pay the price
when the worst predictably plays out.
Blunt, an energy reporter at the Wall
Street Journal, spoke with NFPA Journal
about how climate change, economics,
and aging infrastructure have worked
together to accelerate the devastating
impacts of wildfire in California. She also
tells us why California's experience could
be a bellwether for other places around
the globe.
Tell me a bit about PG&E's history
and presence in California.
PG&E has a long and storied history
in the state. It formed at the turn of
the 20th century, just as electricity
was becoming more viable. There were
a lot of pioneering people back then
building big infrastructure networks.
The company had one real competitor
historically, and the two companies
merged in 1930 to create the Northern
California monopoly that we know
today. Now, its service territory covers
70,000 square miles, and serves
millions of customers across nearly all
of northern and central California.
Many notable incidents over the
years that can be traced back to
PG&E. Based on your reporting, is
this a case of a utility being
particularly negligent, or is it more
the case that it operates in a state
that is just particularly vulnerable?
It's a combination of the two. In the
wake of the Camp Fire in 2018, the local
prosecutors did a very thorough investigation
of the way PG&E had maintained
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NFPA Journal - Winter 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - Winter 2022

Contents
NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - Cover1
NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - 1
NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - 2
NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - 3
NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - Contents
NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - 5
NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - 6
NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - 7
NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - 8
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NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - 10
NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - 11
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NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - 50
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NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - 53
NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - 54
NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - 55
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NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - Cover3
NFPA Journal - Winter 2022 - Cover4
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