A wildfire that broke out in California last July may prove to be the second in the state in seven years that can be traced to a faulty electrical panel.
The fire, dubbed the Nixon Fire, began on July 29 and burned more than 5,000 acres of rugged terrain in a sparsely populated area of Riverside County over the following days. At least two dozen structures (including homes and businesses) were destroyed and others damaged, but no injuries were reported. At its peak, about 1,000 firefighters were working to contain the blaze while evacuation orders were in effect in some areas.
The California Department of Fire Protection said a preliminary investigation pointed to a faulty electrical panel near the community of Aguanga on the southern tip of the county. An investigation into a 2017 Butte County wildfire that burned 6,000 acres over the course of a week in Northern California — destroying 41 homes and damaging 36 others — found that a faulty residential electrical panel sparked the blaze.
The agency’s first official statement in the wake of the Nixon fire was that “California fire officials, after investigating the origin and cause, have determined that the cause of the Nixon Fire was electrical, caused by a privately owned electrical panel.”
