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PUC: Rim Fire burned near Hetch Hetchy watershed but water service held; power and recovery costs significant
Summary
The Public Utilities Commission reported no water quality impacts to city customers from the Rim Fire but described major damage to power infrastructure (over 20 miles of line) and estimated more than $50 million in damages; the PUC is pursuing insurance and federal/state cost recovery after a federal disaster declaration.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission briefed the Disaster Council on operational impacts and recovery work related to the Rim Fire.
Mary Ellen Carroll of the PUC said crews activated contingency plans when the fire began in mid‑August and moved water to local storage reservoirs to preserve supply. “We didn’t have any negative effect actually on our ability to deliver quality water to our customers,” Carroll said, noting the utility maintained water quality and turbidity standards for San Francisco and Bay Area customers despite fire activity near watershed boundaries.
Carroll described why water delivery was preserved: much of the burned area sits on exposed granite with low burn severity in key watershed areas and the utility’s prepositioned reserves and interties with Santa Clara Valley Water and East Bay municipal utilities provided backup supply. The PUC also reported no interruption to municipal electric customers after procuring market power and invoking banking agreements; however, the utility suffered damage to power generation and distribution—more than 20 miles of transmission line and several facilities were affected.
The PUC estimated more than $50,000,000 in damage and said it has initiated full cost‑recovery work with two types of insurance and government sources, including state recovery and FEMA, after a federal disaster declaration. Carroll emphasized lessons learned: follow existing plans, improve management‑level ICS training, and harden documentation and data management to support multi‑year recovery and reimbursement efforts.
