Judge who called PG&E a ‘terror’ now wants answers about latest wildfires

The federal judge in San Francisco overseeing wildfire litigation against PG&E Co. has asked the utility’s attorneys more questions about the start of the Dixie Fire, the ongoing Plumas County blaze that is now the second largest fire in California history.

In a Friday night filing, U.S. District Judge William Alsup also asked PG&E to “explain its role in the ignition of the Fly Fire, which has now merged with the Dixie Fire.” U.S. v. Pacific Gas & Electric Company, 14-CR00175 (N.D. Cal., filed April 1, 2014).

Alsup asked follow-up questions seeking documentation of a circuit of which images were taken by a drone or from the ground by the utility or its contractors depicting a Douglas fir that is suspected of starting the Dixie Fire.

The fires destroyed the town of Greenville and had grown to 765 square miles as of Sunday evening, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It is roughly 21% contained.

A PG&E employee, whose report was summarized in a reply by Jenner & Block LLP attorney Reid J. Schar, said the fire was first spotted the fire near the ground at the base of the tree, leaning into a conductor, on July 13.

The blaze spread quickly.

PG&E equipment also is suspected of causing the Fly Fire.

The judge asked the utility’s attorneys to “please identify each fire that PG&E started, or is suspected to have started, this wildfire season.” … The responses, due Aug. 16, “will not be deemed as an admission by PG&E that it caused any fire, but they will serve as a starting point for discussion.”

PG&E spokeswoman Lynsey Paulo wrote in an email the utility would respond by the deadline set by the judge.

Attorneys for the utility also provided Alsup a hard drive containing photos taken on July 18 and July 26.

Alsup, who presides over PG&E’s criminal probation due to its role in the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion, has spent recent years monitoring the utility’s handling of several years of wildfires. He already has imposed additional probation terms after concluding the utility was responsible for wildfires.

During a February hearing, he grilled PG&E over what he said was its unwillingness to cut down a tree near where a fatal wildfire started in Sonoma County in 2019.

“PG&E has been a terror — t-e-r-r-o-r — to the people of California,” Alsup said during a February hearing on that blaze.

The fires this summer, coming during a drought, may have significant implications for victims of fires in past Northern California fires who settled with the bankrupt utility. About half the settlement funds were to come from PG&E stock.

John K. “Jack” Trotter, who is in charge of the Fire Victim Trust, said in June he was very concerned about how a bad fire season for PG&E could affect the amount of money available to fire victims.

“Those are the things that keep you up at night,” Trotter said in an interview with the Daily Journal.

PG&E stock closed Monday at $8.63, a 29.3% decline this year and a 15% drop during the past month.

The Fire Victim Trust, which is the largest holder of PG&E stock and has more than 477 million shares, has lost billions of dollars on paper as the stock price has dropped.

As of July 31, claimants have received $599.1 million in preliminary and pro rata payments. The total settlement, reached between plaintiffs’ attorneys and the utility, was supposed to be worth $13.5 billion, but that amount may turn out to be less if PG&E’s stock price doesn’t rebound.