PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Survivors of the devastating wildfires in 2020 blame PacifiCorp for not shutting off electricity to its lines – which they say contributed to the fire.
The opening statements in the class action lawsuit began Tuesday with 17 people testifying against PacifiCorp, a company that operates Pacific Power, for $1.6 billion in damages toward thousands of homes and businesses during the wildfires.
“This lawsuit is about the thousands of Oregonians whose lives have been forever changed because of one corporation’s inexcusable and indefensible wrongdoing. By leaving its power lines energized during extremely critical fire conditions on Labor Day – knowing that a historic windstorm would bring trees down onto power lines and ignite uncontrollable fires – PacifiCorp and Pacific Power caused devastation and destruction on a massive scale,” the lawsuit states.
The 2020 fires burned more than 1.2 million acres of land in Oregon, destroyed close to 5,000 homes and businesses and killed nine people.
The defendants accused PacifiCorp and Pacific Power of starting some of the fires that blazed across the state after the 2020 Labor Day wind storm, including the Beachie Creek Fire, the Echo Mountain Complex Fire, the Pike Road Fire and the South Obenchain Fire.
On Labor Day 2020, the National Weather Service in Portland had issued a high wind warning and said gusts could reach 45 mph in lower elevations and up to 60 mph in higher terrain. There was also a red flag warning in effect from 11 a.m. Monday to 8 p.m. Wednesday in Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington.
“Defendants knew very high winds would hit Oregon on Labor Day… Defendants knew that the overwhelming majority of their power lines and electrical infrastructure did not use technologies to mitigate fire risk,” the lawsuit states.
The prosecution said the power company had been warned by state officials to turn off power in some of their lines, but did not as the winds increased.
“PacifiCorp knew of the risk. They knew it was coming, and they understood, but they did nothing. The fires were predictable and they were preventable and they decimated the lives of thousands of Oregonians,” said Nick Rosinia, the plaintiff’s attorney.
PacifiCorp’s attorney told jurors the company mitigated risk of vegetation on powerlines, worked on improvements to protect against fire.
“The answer cannot be that we are just going to chop down every tree within a mile of either side of the powerline. Nor can the answer be that we can just bury all powerlines because that would harm the environment and raise our utility bills exponentially,” said Douglas Dixon, PacifiCorp’s attorney.
In a response issued in court documents on April 13, PacifiCorp points out that Oregon state officials never actually requested the company to proactively shut off its power lines.
“Plaintiffs have not shown that PacifiCorp violated any court order,” attorneys for PacifiCorp state in the court document.
The company said its then-Senior Vice President for External Affairs Scott Bolton was asked to join a call with state officials at 8 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 7, 2020. Attorneys said that from Bolton’s perspective, it was a routine call and said at no point did anyone ask or direct or encourage Pacific Power to conduct a public safety power shutdown or otherwise proactively de-energize its power lines.
“When the Governor’s Office wants Pacific Power to do something, it typically just asks – whether or not it has authority to order any action,” the court document from PacifiCorp’s attorneys states.
So far, none of the people suing the company have testified, but they will be telling their stories in court in the proceeding meetings. The court system estimates the trial will last approximately 8 weeks.
Stay with KOIN 6 as this lawsuit continues.