Electrical Fire at 16 to 1 Mine Draws Full Response

ALLEGHANY — An electrical fire at the Original Sixteen to One Mine drew fire crews from local fire departments and the United States Forest Service to Alleghany on the evening of Monday, July 27. A person on scene had already put the fire out with an extinguisher before crews reached the mine, according to a report relayed to the Sierra County Sheriff’s Office. The incident also tripped a Pacific Gas and Electric wildfire safety device, cutting power to customers throughout western Sierra County.

Sierra County Sheriff Mike Fisher said his office first learned of the fire when the Forest Service called to ask whether deputies knew about a fire in Alleghany. The Forest Service had received a report that an individual had extinguished an electrical fire with a fire extinguisher but was not certain whether heat remained in the building, Fisher said. He sent a deputy to the mine and described the turnout as “a full response,” listing Pike City and Alleghany crews alongside the Forest Service.

Fisher said the fire began with a short in a weatherhead, the fitting where an overhead service line enters a building. Responders pinpointed the source, he said, and it fell on the mine’s side of the electrical system rather than on the utility’s side.

PG&E confirmed with Fisher that the incident tripped an Enhanced Power Line Safety Setting, causing an area-wide outage. The company said the enhanced wildland settings are enabled on the Alleghany circuit through fire season, and added, “Anytime it gets tripped we have to do a visual inspection before re-energizing.”

Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings are fault-sensing settings that PG&E applies to circuit breakers and reclosers on distribution lines in high fire-threat areas. According to the utility, they shut off the flow of electricity in a tenth of a second or less when the system detects a problem, such as a tree limb falling into a line, to prevent the arcs and sparks that can start a wildfire. PG&E enables the settings when wildfire risk is elevated and says they cause more frequent unplanned outages.

The mine is one of the best-known landmarks in western Sierra County. The Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc. was incorporated on October 6, 1911, and describes itself as the oldest continuously operated gold mine in the United States. It sits in Alleghany, within the Tahoe National Forest, and has produced an estimated one million ounces of gold, including a 141-ounce crystalline mass known as “The Whopper.”