PG&E to bury power lines around hospital near wildfire-prone area in Napa County
Posted: September 24, 2024
Madison Smalstig
The Press Democrat
September 23, 2024
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crews will continue burying power lines in northern Napa County through November to reduce fire risk and improve power reliability for a local hospital, the company said.
Workers started digging space for the 5 miles of electrical lines Aug. 19 on Sanitarium Road, between the entrance for Adventist Health St. Helena hospital and Crystal Springs Road, the agency said in a news release.
That portion of the work, which triggered a road closure, ended Sept. 16.
Near the end of that project, crews broke ground for lines surrounding Silverado Trail North, another section of Sanitarium Road and adjacent streets. This work will take place overnight from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. most nights, excluding Saturdays, and continue through Nov. 20.
Officials may close lanes or shoulders or put up flags on roads as needed during the construction, the release said.
Areas along Rose Haven Lane will be under construction from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Wednesday. No traffic controls will be used there.
The project is part of PG&E’s plan to bury 93 miles of electrical lines and install 116 miles of poles and covered power lines by the end of 2026 in Napa County.
The lines are being buried near where the 67,484-acre Glass Fire sparked in September 2020 and destroyed 1,555 structures, including 308 Napa County homes, and damaged about 30 winery properties.
Its cause is officially undetermined, though investigators ruled out PG&E power equipment.
The Crystal Fire that burned 60 acres in early June off Crystal Springs Road was in the Glass Fire scar, about 2 miles northwest of the hospital. Four firefighters were briefly hospitalized after battling the blaze, which destroyed an outbuilding.
