California fireplace investigators on Tuesday pinned the blame for the Dixie Fireplace — the second largest blaze within the state’s historical past — on tools owned by Pacific Fuel & Electrical and referred the case to prosecutors.
The Dixie Fireplace burned greater than 963,000 acres within the Northern California areas of Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta and Tehama Counties in July, destroying 1,329 buildings and damaging 95 others. The trigger, investigators decided, was a tree that got here into contact with PG&E’s energy strains close to the Cresta Dam about 100 miles north of Sacramento.
Investigators on the California Division of Forestry and Fireplace Safety, often known as Cal Fireplace, referred their findings to the Butte County district lawyer, who beforehand introduced prices towards PG&E for the 2018 Camp Fireplace, which killed scores of individuals and destroyed the city of Paradise.
In that case, PG&E pleaded responsible to 84 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter and one felony depend of illegally setting a fireplace. The utility additionally agreed to pay $3.5 million in fines as a part of the prison plea.
The utility didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
PG&E additionally has prices pending in Shasta County, the place the district lawyer has charged the utility with manslaughter, together with different felonies and misdemeanors in reference to the Zogg Fireplace, which burned greater than 56,000 acres and destroyed 204 buildings close to Redding.
Since 2017, PG&E has been the main focus of the state’s excessive wildfires which were made worse by local weather change. The corporate has taken quite a few steps to forestall wildfires, together with putting in climate stations and cameras. The utility additionally has resorted to the acute measure of slicing off energy, generally to thousands and thousands of individuals for days.
After PG&E amassed $30 billion in legal responsibility from the wildfires brought on by its tools, the utility sought chapter safety in January 2019. The corporate exited from chapter in July 2020, promising to work to forestall additional wildfires. Victims of the fires have continued to hunt compensation for his or her losses that turned a part of the corporate’s chapter plan.
The Dixie Fireplace — amongst at the very least three fires final yr that had been suspected of being brought on by PG&E’s tools — underscored the lingering risk of wildfires brought on by utility tools.