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In California, fires are a real threat. In recent years, we have had massive fires that have burned down forests, grass covered hills and trees as well as entire neighborhoods leaving destruction, devastation and death. Many of these fires can be traced to electric poles​, which is where site developers like to put their newest 4G & 5G antennas. 

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 In order to accommodate the newest wireless ​infrastructure like 5G​, companies like Verizon are using existing wood electrical poles which require an increase of pole height by 20-25%. They are using these wood poles because they are the cheapest way to build this infrastructure. Adding a 10-ft extension onto 40- or 50-ft pole significantly lengthens the pole while decreasing the force of wind required to topple a pole. When you add more communications equipment to this increased pole height, this "pole loading" adds significantly to pole failure and possibly pole fires! Below are examples of fire issues with poles. 

The city of Malibu, which has been deeply impacted by these types of fires, is finding design and engineering flaws in almost every application for cell towers reviewed by their engineers. Most cities let these laws slide through.  Fiber is needed for 5G to operate, and the fiber is not all underground; much of it is strung from utility pole to utility pole with lashing wires, and the lashing wires can come loose due to faulty equipment or improper installation.  

• The Los Angeles Times has stated that  California utility equipment sparked more than 2,000 fires in over a three year period. 
• Cal Fire determined 17 of 21 California fires in 2018 were attributed to pole issues. 
• The deadly Campfire was confirmed to be started by power lines and pole loading by wireless antennas is one of many issues contributing to all of these fires.  
• 2007 Malibu, California: A Southern California Edison pole (SCE) was structurally overloaded by three wireless carrier facilities owned by AT&T, Verizon and Sprint (now T-Mobile). The pole snapped in the wind and ignited the tall grass. The Malibu Canyon Fire burned over 6 square miles.
• 2015 Stockton, California: A truck hit the utility pole with 60 kV transmission lines and 12 kV distribution lines in Stockton. The 60 kV line contacted the 12 kV line and instantly increased the voltage on the 12 kV line.  Approximately 5,000 meters owned by Pacific Gas & Electric catastrophically failed. Approximately 80 house fires started as a result.  
• 2018 Paradise, California: The head of PG&E pled guilty in June 2022 to 84 counts of manslaughter in the deaths of residents who are unable to escape their homes and unable to call for help because cell phones did not work after PG&E cut the power. The deadly Campfire was confirmed to be started by power lines and pole loading. 
• 2018 Malibu, California: The Woolsey Fire is currently under criminal investigation and therefore the name of the telecommunications carrier involved in the ignition of one of the two key ignition points of the Woolsey Fire is not public knowledge at this time. We know that a telecommunication’s lashing wire was involved. The Woolsey Fire burned three people to death in their cars as they were trying to escape, cost $6 billion, and burned over 400 homes in Malibu – some of which have still not been permitted for rebuilding. 
• Silverado Fire (2020). This fire was caused by a telecom lashing wire that came loose and forced the evacuation of over 130,000 people.
• April 8, 2021.  Verizon announced the recall of 2.5 million hot spots as a safety precaution. Verizon states that the hot spots may spontaneously combust.
• April 8, 2021. Three nationally recognized experts on fire safety, Jim Brown, CCAI-CF, Fire Forensics & Technology; Dr. Robert Armstrong, PhD P.E., Armstrong Engineering; and Dr. Vytenis Babrauskas, PhD, Fire Science and Technology Inc., presented their hypothesis that RF emissions from smart meters may induce failure of customer-owned electrical insulation. This phenomenon has not been replicated in a laboratory yet.  
  

Additionally, all cell towers are electrical devices, and every electrical device will fail. It is the job of the professional engineer to make sure that every electrical device fails as safely as possible, i.e. does not cause a fire. But, when a cell tower does catch on fire it is an electrical fire which cannot be fought through conventional means. That means the firefighters can arrive on scene and do nothing except put short bursts of water on the surrounding area. They cannot touch a blazing pole with water because to do so is to risk electrocution. The fire department will call the utility company to cut the power.   Imagine a 4G or 5G antenna with ancillary equipment (which contain electrical devices and SMART meters) in somebody's front yard or attached to the light post at the corner of a property with winds gusting to 40 to 60 mile an hour. It takes the utilities 10 to 30 minutes on a good day to get the power shut off. It can take up to two hours if distribution and/or transmission lines are attached to the same monopole. How these fires are fought is determined by local fire departments and therefore placement of these towers must be determined at the local level, not in Sacramento. 

The liability for these pole fires is minimal to the industry as they fail to adequately insure against the cost of these fires leaving cities exposed. How do they do this? Telecom says they are self-insured but most of the time they provide cities with self-insured paperwork showing "shell' corporations that have minimal assets equaling a few million dollars, which is not near enough to meet the liabilities created by these fires. They will declare bankruptcy for that LLC and move on to the next city and repeat the same process. What is the cost-benefit ratio of building out an infrastructure that brings us more fire risk and infinitely more financial risk & liability to the cities and to the state?

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The obvious answer to this dilemma is to underground these poles. Instead, Northern California has begun scheduled blackouts during fire season to circumvent this growing fire risk problem and is allowing more poles to add wireless infrastructure with the added electrical equipment to these antiquated poles.

These poles are infrastructure that were considered state-of-the art when they were first introduced in the USA back in 1844, and used during the Civil War. But today, this obsolete infrastructure is being used for 21'st century technology like 5G. The industry is forcing cities to use the existing infrastructure because it's the cheapest way to build out the massive number of antennas necessary for 5G! Currently, many cities have caved into the veiled threats of an industry whose only goal is to find as many locations that offer the cheapest way to build their inferior wireless infrastructure.

Local governments are citizens first, and only, line of defense against the overreach of the Telecom industry and citizens are often the only reason why local governments create strong zoning ordinances that force these towers to be responsibly placed, which is why it is so important for citizens to engage their local government on this issue.

CELL SITE SAFETY PROTOCOL

Before your municipality permits a telecom provider's installation of new cell sites, insist on a sealed, signed and dated document from a state-licensed professional engineer that demonstrates that the cell site's fire and collapse hazards have been comprehensively evaluated and mitigated. Here's a link to a fuller description of the Cell Site Safety Protocol: www.OurWeb.tech/fires-and-collapses.