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Rusting support wire killed King City-area farmer and may pose wildfire risk, regulators say
A corroded wire supporting a PG&E power line broke and killed ag-tech entrepreneur Steven Dodge on a Monterey County farm in 2022. State regulators are now directing utilities to assess tie-wire fire risks, while records show earlier signs of corrosion at the farm and other reported failures linked to fires.
State regulators have directed PG&E and other utilities to assess whether tie wires supporting power lines pose a wildfire risk, following reports of wire failures that sparked fires and the 2022 death of an agricultural technology entrepreneur on a Monterey County farm.
Steven Dodge, 34, was testing remote water-monitoring equipment from a raised irrigation platform near King City in January 2022 when a wire on a 12,000-volt PG&E line broke. The line fell and struck him, killing him instantly.
Investigators with the California Public Utilities Commission found PG&E responsible for failing to properly replace or reinforce the wire. Its protective aluminum coating had worn away, exposing steel that rusted until it failed, according to the investigation. Photos reviewed by investigators showed electrical burn marks on Dodge’s cap.
Records also show PG&E inspectors had found similar rusting and broken wires on two nearby poles at the farm years earlier. Dan Mulkey, a former PG&E electrical engineer who worked for the utility for four decades, said those findings should have prompted closer scrutiny of other equipment in the area. “That was just a huge red flag,” he said.
Dodge co-founded Acuity Agriculture, a startup that developed remote-monitoring tools for farmers. He spoke in a 2021 podcast about the importance of trust and personal relationships in agriculture, saying, “It’s all about the relationships.”
Tie wires are metal strands used to secure high-voltage conductors to ceramic insulators on utility poles. Records from Dodge’s wrongful-death lawsuit and a recent regulatory investigation indicate that loose or broken tie wires have also been associated with fires. The lawsuit identified at least two fires sparked by tie-wire failures in the years before Dodge’s death: one near King City and another in Kern County. Regulators more recently cited PG&E over several loose wires, including a utility notice indicating that loose wires had sparked a pole fire. PG&E disputed the findings related to those incidents.
The CPUC did not seek fines in connection with Dodge’s death. His widow’s wrongful-death case was settled earlier this year for an undisclosed amount; PG&E declined to discuss the case, citing a confidentiality clause. Separately, PG&E agreed to a $22 million regulatory settlement with the commission.
PG&E said it understands regulators’ concerns and has expanded maintenance, including drone inspections and real-time grid-monitoring devices intended to identify problems before wires fail. The company said it inspects tie wires as part of its required infrastructure checks.
Former California Public Utilities Commission President Loretta Lynch criticized the commission’s response to tie-wire failures, arguing that regulators had not demanded sufficiently immediate action or penalized PG&E for earlier incidents. “They seem to be asleep at the switch,” Lynch said.