One of the largest utilities in the US has avoided a trial for a deadly 2020 wildfire that sparked when a tree fell on one of its power lines in rural northern California.
A Shasta county judge on Tuesday dismissed manslaughter and other criminal charges against Pacific Gas and Electric related to the Zogg fire, which killed four people as they tried to flee the fast-moving blaze that destroyed the towns of Igo and Ono.
The trial – a rare occurrence as PG&E has typically settled criminal cases – had been scheduled to start in Shasta county next week, and would have served as a public reckoning for a company that has already paid out billions in damages for wildfires started by its power equipment.
As part of a settlement to avoid a trial, PG&E has agreed to pay $45m to groups focused on rebuilding efforts and a $5m civil penalty, and to continue initiatives to reduce the risk of wildfires.
The district attorney, Stephanie Bridgett, said in an interview with the Guardian that she did not agree with the judge’s decision to drop the charges, but that her office fought for a resolution that would help the community.
“Our goal originally was to prosecute [PG&E] criminally – to get a criminal conviction and force change that way,” she said. “This resolution does bring a lot of needed things into our community to prevent future fires, to make changes that need to be made within PG&E but also to have the personnel and services to respond better in the future.”
The settlement will fund fuel mitigation efforts, a scholarship program to increase the number of local firefighters, a large animal evacuation center and memorials to honor those who killed in the fire, among other efforts.
PG&E must also move some of its infrastructure underground, install new weather monitoring stations and meet regularly with the district attorney’s office to ensure it is complying with the agreement.
“The agreement reflects our continuing commitment to making it right and making it safe. We stand behind our thousands of trained and experienced coworkers and contractors working every day to keep Californians safe,” Patti Poppe, the company’s CEO, said in a statement.
PG&E has been subject to intense scrutiny in recent years for its role in causing devastating and deadly wildfires in California. The company has been accused of repeatedly prioritizing shareholder profits over ensuring the safety of its infrastructure.
In recent years, PG&E equipment set off 31 wildfires that wiped away entire towns and killed 113 people. The company pleaded guilty in 2020 to more than 80 counts of manslaughter for its role in the 2018 Camp fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise.
In Shasta county, the 2020 disaster started during a windstorm when a gray pine with defects that led to it being marked for removal fell on power lines in the rugged mountainous terrain east of Redding. Fueled by fire-friendly conditions, the blaze raced through the tiny towns and scattered homes in the foothills, consuming more than 56,000 acres (23,000 hectares), taking out hundreds of homes and forcing people to immediately evacuate.
Four people died trying to escape the fire: Alaina Mcleod, 46, and her eight-year-old daughter, Feyla; Kenneth Vossen, who was badly burned as he sought refuge at a pond on his rural property; and Karin King, a 79-year old animal advocate and retiree.
The case, Bridgett said, was about getting justice for the victims and forcing change in order to save lives and ensure that PG&E doesn’t “continue the practices that led to the fire in the first place”.
The judge who dropped the charges said in his ruling that the tree falling on company infrastructure did not necessarily mean PG&E had been negligent. “The fact that the tree fell does not itself equate to gross negligence or recklessness,” the judge stated. That ruling was in contrast with another local judge who determined earlier this year there was enough evidence that the utility should stand trial for manslaughter.
PG&E had previously settled with the California public utilities commission for $150m after the regulatory agency alleged that “the tree that caused the fire was not removed in time because of PG&E’s poor recordkeeping”.
