A lawsuit filed on behalf of Butte County residents who lost homes and businesses in the Camp Fire accuses PG&E of negligence that led to the catastrophic blaze.
The fire has destroyed about 6,500 residences and 250 businesses and killed at least 48 people in and around the town of Paradise — by far the most destructive and deadly wildfire in California history.
The blaze started about 6:30 a.m. last Thursday, and the first Cal Fire crew on the scene identified the location as beneath a major PG&E transmission line near the Feather River and about 8 miles northeast of Paradise.
In a brief report to the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E said that it had recorded an outage on the transmission line 14 minutes before the reported start of the fire.
Both Cal Fire and PG&E have emphasized that the cause of the fire is under investigation.
But the complaint filed in San Francisco Superior Court on Tuesday charges that PG&E equipment ignited the fire and alleges the blaze is the result of PG&E’s long-term failure to maintain its infrastructure or operate in a way that would minimize the risk of wildfires.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for negligence, depriving the plaintiffs of their property and violations of utilities and public safety laws.
Given the history of recent disasters involving PG&E, such as the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion and the October 2017 Northern California fire siege, losses in the Camp Fire are likely to be more than $10 billion.
PG&E’s liability, too, could be in the billions if it’s found to be responsible for the blaze. But in that eventuality, the company is likely to benefit from a new California law that would allow it to sell state-authorized “recovery bonds” to compensate property owners for their losses.
Under the law, passed earlier this year in and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, PG&E ratepayers could pay off the bonds — if the CPUC finds that the company properly maintained power lines and other facilities.
Redwood Shores attorney Mike Danko, one of those representing the plaintiffs, said his clients and other Paradise residents are “aware that PG&E, instead of trying to put safety first and execute on its pledge to mitigate wildfire risk, that instead PG&E has been running to the Legislature for various types of protection from its own wrongdoing and trying to get laws passed so it canât be held responsible when it starts a forest fire and burns down someoneâs house or in this case kills people.”
Asked for comment on the lawsuit, PG&E issued a statement saying “our entire company is focused on supporting first responders and assisting our customers and communities impacted by the Camp Fire.”
“We appreciate the interest in the details associated with these incidents, but we are not able to share more information beyond what is included in the reports weâve filed,” the company statement said.
KQED’s Angela Corral contributed to this report.
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