Pacific Gas & Electric says it had a problem with electric line near Paradise minutes before Camp Fire started

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Saturday, November 10, 2018
Flames consume a Kentucky Fried Chicken as the Camp Fire tears through Paradise, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018.
kfsn-AP Photo/Noah Berger

PARADISE, Calif. -- Pacific Gas & Electric Co. says it experienced a problem on an electrical transmission line near the site of a massive fire in Northern California minutes before the blaze broke out.

RELATED: At least 6 dead as Camp Fire grows to 70,000 acres in Butte County, 5 percent contained

The company said in a one-paragraph summary filed Thursday with state utility regulators that it had experienced an outage on the line about 15 minutes before the fire started. The company said it later observed damage to a transmission tower on the line near the town of Paradise.

The fire has killed at least six people and destroyed hundreds of homes. Paradise is 180 miles northeast of San Francisco.

The filing was first reported by KQED News.

Fire officials have not determined a cause for the blaze.