From K-QED. California has always had wildfires, like earthquakes or drought. They're part of living in this state. Attention in Sonoma County residents.

There is a large fire off Mark West Springs Road.

There are several homes engulfed in flame. Lightning starts some of our wildfires and careless people start others.

But over the last several years, a lot of fires have been started by Pacific Gas and Electric,

PG&E, our power company.

Tell me again what happened?

Well, it looked like it was a big firework that went off,

but it looked, I'm pretty sure it's the transformer.

In just two and a half years, the utility's equipment started more than 1,500 fires, a Wall

Street Journal investigation found.

Some of those were small, but others were deadly,

like the campfire, which burned the town of Paradise to the ground in 2018

and killed 85 people.

To prevent wildfires, PG&E has started shutting off the power

during dry and windy weather.

That's when a downed power line or electrical spark

is most likely to start a blaze.

Now, those power shutoffs appear to have prevented fires,

but the practice has also stranded people

without power for days, which poses its own health and safety risks.

I am a survivor of the recent disastrously conceived and implemented shutdown by PG&E and I am an angry survivor.

Bicarious listener Sally Swope has been watching the news and she thought to herself there must be a better way.

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