A judge ruled that Pacific Gas & Electric will face manslaughter charges for its role in a Northern California wildfire that killed four people in 2020.
A judge in Shasta County ruled after a preliminary hearing that there was enough evidence for the nation’s largest utility to face trial on 11 felony and misdemeanor charges, including involuntary manslaughter and recklessly starting a fire.
Twenty more charges were dropped.
In June, the nation’s largest utility pleaded not guilty to the charges and was set to be arraigned on Feb. 15.
In September 2020, the Zogg Fire raged through the forested county south of the Oregon border. The fire had burned 88 square miles of land and destroyed more than 200 homes before it was extinguished.
Four people died, including an eight-year-old girl and her mother who were caught in the flames while fleeing their home.
The fire began when a pine tree fell into a PG&E distribution line, according to state fire officials. The California Public Utilities Commission proposed fining PG&E more than $155 million last year for failing to remove the tree, one of two marked for removal.
Although no criminal charges have been filed against company executives, the company may be fined and ordered to take corrective action.
In a statement, PG&E stated that, while it accepts that its equipment caused the fire, “we believe PG&E did not commit any crimes.”
“We continue to work to make it safe and right, both by resolving claims from previous fires and by working every day to make our system safer,” the utility said.
PG&E serves an estimated 16 million customers in central and northern California. By failing to maintain its aging power grid, the company has been accused of causing some of California’s worst wildfires.
Since 2017, PG&E has been blamed for over 30 wildfires that have destroyed over 23,000 homes and businesses and killed over 100 people.
Last year, former executives and directors agreed to pay $117 million to settle a lawsuit relating to wildfires in California in 2017 and 2018, including the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 people and destroyed much of the town of Paradise in Butte County.
The complaint stemmed from PG&E’s $13.5 billion settlement with wildfire victims while the utility was bankrupt from January 2019 to June 2020.
PG&E pleaded guilty to 84 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter and was fined $4 million, the maximum penalty allowed, for causing the Camp Fire.
To avoid criminal prosecution, PG&E agreed to pay more than $55 million in a settlement with prosecutors in six counties ravaged by the 2021 Dixie Fire and the 2019 Kincade Fire.
Over 1,300 homes and other structures were destroyed in the Dixie Fire. The fire was started when a tree fell on electrical distribution lines west of a dam in the Sierra Nevada.