A federal bankruptcy judge has ruled that a jury should determine whether Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. is responsible for the Tubbs fire of 2017, one of California’s worst wildfires, which could account for as much as two-thirds of the wildfire claims for 2017 and 2018.
San Francisco on June 4 hired a financial advisor as it considers buying distribution assets from the beleaguered utility Pacific Gas & Electric, which filed for voluntary bankruptcy protection in January as it faced more than $30 billion in liabilities stemming from 2017 and 2018 wildfires that burned many thousands of acres and destroyed thousands of structures.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. was increasing vegetation and fire safety standards even before a Cal Fire report released this month concluded that the company’s electric power lines caused the 12 Northern California fires that burned some 245,000 acres in October.
Two days after one of California’s most devastating wildfires began raging through Ventura and Santa Barbara counties on Dec. 4, Procore sent its approximately 700 Carpinteria-based employees home from the office campus.
With Northern California’s deadly wildfires mostly contained, investigators are moving to preserve evidence in the search for the cause of the blazes. Affected homeowners have filed lawsuits alleging that inadequate power-line maintenance may have played a role.
Fort McMurray, Alberta, the center of Canadian oil-sands crude production, was evacuated on May 5, when a wildfire swept through the city’s outlying forests and through the streets, destroying more than 2,400 structures.