SONOMA COUNTY (KRON) — On the anniversary of one of California’s most destructive wildfires and on the eve of unprecedented power outages, PG&E representatives were at an event in Sonoma County honoring dozens of its customers.
PG&E told KRON4 on Friday that about 60 people attended the Wine Country event, including several of the company’s gas representatives. The event came as hundreds of thousands of Californians prepared for widespread power outages and extreme fire weather conditions.
The event was held on the anniversary of the Tubbs Fire, which at the time, was the most destructive wildfire in the state’s history.
The 2017 fire burned more than 36,000 acres, killed 22 people and destroyed thousands of buildings in Napa, Sonoma and Lake counties.
PG&E admitted the timing of Tuesday’s event was insensitive because of the two-year anniversary of the Tubbs Fire.
“While the event was planned for about a year, we sincerely apologize for the insensitivity of the timing and location of the event, given the two-year milestone of the 2017 North Bay wildfires,” the company said in a statement. “Moving forward, we will no longer hold these types of events.”
The utility company said its CEOs did not attend the event and said the event has been held annually for two decades prior.
Upwards of 800,000 PG&E customers statewide lost power starting early Wednesday — just hours after the PG&E representatives and customers attended the event.
Power has since been restored to three-fourths of affected customers as of Friday afternoon.
The company apologized for holding the event, reiterating its focus on safety.
“We can never forget these tragic events, which profoundly affected our customers and all Californians,” the utility said. “PG&E’s most important responsibility must be the safety of our customers and the communities we serve and there is more work ahead. We’re committed to doing it right.”
According to PG&E, Tuesday’s event was shareholder funded and was not paid for with customers’ money.