Several of the wildfires that ripped through northern California's wine country in October 2017 were caused by downed power lines owned by the local utility company, a probe by investigators found.
Cal Fire - the state agency in charge of fire prevention - said in a statement late Friday that its investigators determined after "extensive and thorough investigations" that 12 of the wildfires "were caused by electric power and distribution lines, conductors and the failure of power poles."
The investigations "have been referred to the appropriate county district attorney's offices for review in eight of the 12 fires... due to evidence of alleged violations of state law."
The statement said the power lines belonged to PG&E - Pacific Gas and Electric - the regional utility company. The October fires in the wine regions of Napa and Sonoma valleys, north of San Francisco, killed some 40 people, razed more than 73,000 hectares of forest and scrub, and destroyed more than 7,000 homes and buildings.
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