Camp Fire

I used to live in San Francisco, so I'm very familiar with PG&E and complaints about it.

After the 2018 Camp Fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise, it was determined that faulty electric equipment started the blaze.

PG&E pled guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for its role starting the fire.

In 2021, Patty Poppy was brought on to fix things.

And here's the challenge for California.

If capital, safe, reliable capital, the best kind of retiree capital will not flow to fund our infrastructure investment, that's a way bigger problem than data centers, I can tell you right now.

So against that are cities and counties saying, well, we don't want to get stuck with another Palisades, another Eaton Fire, you know, Camp Fire.

You name the fire.

Failures to warn residents have been documented in several of the state's deadliest wildfires.

That includes Butte County's 2018 Camp Fire.

Now, a Southern California emergency manager is suing Los Angeles County, alleging retaliation after raising concerns about the response to the Eaton Fire.

LAist Aaron Stone reports.

Hmm.

The, quote, "Campfire" in 2018, November 8th through 25th, 2018.

It was sparked by faulty utility lines that the deely, the tool that was holding the utility lines-

The deely

... just scraping.

Like I said, it was sparked by faulty utility lines and extreme wind conditions.

The Campfire almost entirely erased the town of Paradise, California.

It stands as the most structurally destructive single fire, not part of a complex of fires, the most destructive single fire in US history.

Just last year, the Palisades and Eaton fires fanned by Santa Ana winds tore through Los Angeles County.

And back in 2018, the Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in the state's history, was found to be caused by electrical transmission lines owned by PG&E.

There are resource centers open in Fresno and Madera Counties for those who need them.

And red flag warnings are in place in parts of Southern California as Santa Ana winds hit the area there.

Yeah.

Well, your time in service in the town of Paradise has really been kind of shaped by Camp Fire Rebuilding, right? Weren't you just elected to council? right before the campfire hit?

I was.

I was elected two days before the campfire.

AccuWeather has estimated that the fires may cost as much as $275 billion in damage, and estimates from Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs say that the insurance industry may lose as much as $40 billion.

At present, around 12,000 buildings are damaged or destroyed in Los Angeles, which is fewer than the 18,000 burned by the Camp Fire in Northern California in 2018.

The LA homes are, however, much more expensive than the ones burned down in 2018, as the average home in Pacific Palisades is worth $3.4 million, and the average home in Altadena is worth $1.3 million.

Everyone's got a hard question about AI, your job, your kids, where it's going.

While the cause of the fires is still unclear, a number of lawsuits have already been filed against Southern California Edison, blaming them for the Eaton Fire, the second largest ongoing blaze.

Shares in California utilities have all sold off year to date as investors worry about the risk of massive lawsuits, as California's law of inverse condemnation liability could make them liable for damages if the blaze started from their equipment regardless of whether the utility behaved negligently.

This rule was used against PG&E, forcing the company into bankruptcy after it was found liable for billions of dollars in damages after the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 people.

Warren-

We'll have the latest.

Also, the last batch of settlement payments for the victims of the Camp Fire is coming in a few days.

What's next for Paradise residents?

And how dry conditions in recent weeks and this week's heat advisory in the North State have fire experts on alert.

The sheriff's office says death certificates are being updated to reflect the suicide and homicide findings.

In Chico, I'm Anthony Voseck.

The last of the PG&E settlement payouts will go out to the survivors of the 2018 Camp Fire next week.

The total will only be about 70% of what is owed to residents, but a new law recently signed by Governor Gavin Newsom will require PG&E to find ways to fill the remaining 30% gap.