News 8 Investigation: Wildfires Raise Safety Concerns Over Sunrise Powerlink

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Last Updated:
11-03-07 at 7:26PM

The October wildfires killed seven people and destroyed 1,700 homes. As News 8 first reported, investigators are looking at SDG&E power lines as the possible cause of three of those fires, including the massive Witch Fire.

Cal Fire says the Witch Fire started near a Santa Ysabel cattle ranch owned by 79-year old Jim Wood. Jim and his son Jeff showed News 8 the 69,000-volt power line that fire investigators are looking at.

"Makes you live in a nervous fright when you live on the other side of it," Jim said.

The Woods family survived the Witch Fire - barely. Now their biggest concern is what SDG&E wants to do next. The power company is planning on running an even bigger power line through this very same area.

"Running big power wires through the middle of our country, that just doesn't make sense to me," Jim said.

It's called the Sunrise Powerlink - a huge, 500,000-volt power line that would run from Imperial Valley, over the local mountains and end up in San Diego.

Despite the recent wildfires, SDG&E Chief Operating Officer Mike Niggli believes the Sunrise Powerlink will not be a significant fire risk.

"We happen to believe that the designs we have, and the proven track record of high tension power lines, we will not have any additional large incidents of fire in this area," Niggli said.

Don't tell Ramona residents Joe Mitchell and Diane Conklin that the Sunrise Powerlink will be safe. Joe is a fire consultant who's opposed to the project. He says on average, the new powerlink line would spark one brush fire every 15 to 20 years.

"It's a small probability on a per-year basis, but when it happens it's going to be very, very bad," Joe said.

The opposition to the new power line has been so strong in the backcountry that SDG&E is now considering burying a nine-mile section of the line underground, through the Santa Ysabel Valley, where the Witch Fire started.

"It would be much better to have these lines in these hazard areas undergrounded, and that's a very expensive proposition. But is it any more expensive than having Rancho Santa Fe burning?" Joe said.

SDG&E disputes Joe's fire risk calculations, and the company says the Sunrise Powerlink is badly needed to keep up with San Diego's growing power needs.

"When we have another transmission line, another electric superhighway into the area, that's separated in terms of the corridor location, this will substantially improve our reliability for the entire region," Niggli said.

In light of the recent wildfires though, public support for SDG&E's new powerlink link could be in trouble.

"Of course this is not good news for the company, and this is worse news for people died , and who suffered through the fire," Conklin said.

Back on the Woods' ranch where the Witch Fire started, the embers from the fire are still cooling off, but the debate over the Sunrise Powerlink is still raging.

"Let's come up with a solution to protect our lands and our backcountry, and let's come up with some smarter power supply ideas. There's gotta be better solutions," Jeff Wood said.

The Sunrise Powerlink is currently in the public review process.