Despite the power being shut off to surrounding areas in the East Bay on Sunday, live wires in an area that was not part of the shutoff in Lafayette appear to have been the cause of two separate fires.
PG&E reported the news to state regulators on Monday that a PG&E inspector arrived at the scene of the fires, which erupted on two sides of Highway 24 beginning around 2:45 p.m. Cal Fire and county fire crews extinguished the blazes quickly, but one of the fires gutted the Lafayette Tennis Club and damaged the roof of one home.
As KPIX reports, PG&E says that contact between a power line and a communication line may have been to blame for one of the fires, while a downed power pole and transformer appeared to be the cause of the second fire.
One of the fires happened in the area of Camino Diablo Road, while the other was near Pleasant Hill and Condit Road, as the Associated Press reports.
High winds throughout northern California prompted pre-emptive power shutoffs in much of the region, including parts of Contra Costa County. Like the Kincade Fire which is still raging after four days in Sonoma County, the Lafayette fires appear to be the result of PG&E lines that were left on in a calculus the company has yet to fully explain.
Additionally in Contra Costa County on Sunday, a fire broke out in Crockett that appeared to have been sparked by an ember from a larger fire across the Carquinez Strait in Vallejo, and a 50-acre fire was contained in Martinez.
Update on the Lafayette Fire. The Tennis Club building is a total loss, one outbuilding received damage and a residential structure had minor damage to the roof. pic.twitter.com/IyR5ttSa3Y
— Con Fire PIO (@ContraCostaFire) October 27, 2019
Lafayette Tennis Club Extensive Damage from the Lafayette Fire. pic.twitter.com/z3VIHIpJXl
— Con Fire PIO (@ContraCostaFire) October 27, 2019