PG&E launches major undergrounding project in Foresthill amid fire safety concerns

FORESTHILL -- Questions were answered Tuesday night for residents in the Placer County community of Foresthill as Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) kicked off a massive power lines undergrounding project.

PG&E held a community meeting Tuesday to answer questions from neighbors.

The plan is to put more than 40 miles of power lines underground in the Foresthill area. It is part of a much larger project to put more than 10,000 miles of power lines underground in high-fire-risk areas across the state.

It comes as PG&E faces several lawsuits and investigations over allegations a transmission line started the Mosquito Fire that forced 11,000 people from their homes.

PG&E said the project will take about four years and construction has already started. However, a limited budget for the project means not everyone in Foresthill will have their neighborhood lines underground.

"There's essentially a scale for rating wildfire risk and they drew the line on a particular place on that scale," PG&E spokesman Paul Moreno said.

The neighborhood that will not get its lines underground could be a part of a future project after the completion of the current project.