“Seven-and-a-half miles from the town of Paradise, a fire had started beneath a high-voltage electricity tower. “

“The fire started, as PG&E has admitted, from a piece of equipment that failed, bringing a power line in contact with the steel tower, so you had shards of molten metal that got thrown down into the brush.”

But that morning, PG&E had decided not to turn off the power. It would later say this was because the winds were decreasing.

“I got a couple phone calls from other chief officers asking if I was paying attention to the radio. You know, I think, like a lot of people, didn’t really take it too serious; we get a lot of fires up there.”