Electric utility PG&E pleaded guilty to 84 counts of manslaughter, taking responsibility for the deadliest wildfire in California history, which consumed almost the entire town of Paradise in 2018.
The company's CEO, Bill Johnson, was tasked with expressing a mea culpa with his head bowed before the judge of the Butte County Superior Court, where the fire known as the Camp Fire occurred, which devastated 62,053 hectares and destroyed more than 18,000 buildings, in addition to causing 85 deaths (one of the bodies was never recovered, which is why there are 84 manslaughter charges).
“Nothing I say can lessen the magnitude of this devastation or help repair the damage, but I sincerely hope that the actions we are taking today help bring some peace to the people affected,” Johnson told the judge, according to local media.
The origins of the fire
An investigation by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Calfire) found in May of last year that the origin of the fire was traced to a power line operated by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the state's largest electricity and gas utility.
The Calfire report determined that sparks from a broken cable belonging to a power line near the town of Pulga caused the first flames and that dry vegetation, high temperatures, and strong wind that day contributed to spreading the fire at an “extreme” rate.
The fire swept down the slopes of the Sierra Nevada and in a few minutes reached the towns of Magalia, Paradise (the largest of all and where it caused the highest number of deaths), and Concow.
Near Concow, the wind pushed vegetation against another power line, and a second fire was declared, which was “swallowed” by the first and further contributed to its rapid expansion.
Speculation regarding PG&E's possible responsibility for the fire began a few days after the November 2018 fire, when the company informed authorities that a small airplane had identified an “anomaly” on the transmission line near Pulga minutes before the flames started.
The company filed for bankruptcy in January 2019, but will still have to bear millions of dollars in penalties, repairs to the basic infrastructure of the affected populations, and compensation to some of the victims or their families.
SOURCE:
FIRE MAGAZINE
