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Report: Deadly California Wildfire Sparked When Tree Hit Power Line
Officials say a Northern California wildfire that killed four people and destroyed more than 200 buildings last year was sparked when tree branches came into contact with Pacific Gas & Electric power lines.
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Power Shutoffs in Bay Area Underway as California Preps for Dangerous Fire Weather
California, which has endured its worst wildfire season in history, is bracing for the most dangerous winds of the year, a forecast that prompted the largest utility to announce plans to cut power Sunday to nearly 1 million people to guard against its equipment sparking new blazes.
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Calif. Utility May Cut Power to 1 Million People Due to Extreme Fire Danger
Pacific Gas & Electric may cut power to over 300,000 customers on Sunday to prevent the chance of sparking wildfires as extreme fire weather returns to the region, the utility confirmed Saturday.
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Power Cut to Thousands in California to Prevent Wildfires
Tens of thousands of California utility customers were still without power Friday morning, though PG&E gradually started restoration efforts as a fall heat wave causing extreme wildfire danger began to subside.
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California Heat Spurs 1st Rolling Power Outages Since 2001
California has ordered rolling power outages for the first time since 2001 as a statewide heat wave strained its electrical system
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Utility's Power Lines Caused Huge 2019 California Wildfire
Pacific Gas & Electric transmission lines sparked a wildfire in Northern California wine country last year that destroyed hundreds of homes and caused nearly 100,000 people to flee, fire officials said Thursday.
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PG&E Pleads Guilty to 84 Deaths in 2018 Camp Fire
PG&E is due to plead guilty in Butte County Superior Court Tuesday to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in the devastating 2018 Camp Fire that was caused by a break in a worn piece of equipment on a high-voltage transmission tower.
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Calif. Utility Pleading Guilty in Wildfire Deaths
Pacific Gas & Electric will plead guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for a swath of death and destruction left behind after its fraying electrical grid ignited a 2018 wildfire that decimated three Northern California towns and drove the nation’s largest utility into bankruptcy.
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PG&E Suspends Power Shutoffs for Nonpayment During Pandemic
PG&E has announced that it is suspending power shutoffs for nonpayment during the coronavirus pandemic, the utility announced Thursday.
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Regulators Boost PG&E's Wildfire Fine to $2.1B
California power regulators on Thursday slapped Pacific Gas & Electric with a $2.1 billion fine for igniting a series of deadly wildfires that landed the beleaguered utility in bankruptcy.
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Financial Tug-of-War Emerges Over Fire Victims' Settlement
A financial tug-of-war is emerging over the $13.5 billion that the nation’s largest utility has agreed to pay to victims of recent California wildfires, as government agencies jockey for more than half the money to cover the costs of their response to the catastrophes. Pacific Gas & Electric declared bankruptcy nearly a year ago as it faced about $36 billion…
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PG&E Execs Got Big Bonuses for Meeting Safety Goals
PG&E paid top execs $17 million in bonuses from 2012 to 2017, partly for meeting safety goals despite the fact that the company’s poor maintenance has been linked to deadly fires.
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California Governor Rejects $13.5 Billion PG&E Settlement
California gov. Gavin Newsom has rejected a bankruptcy reorganization plan that Pacific Gas and Electric reached just last week with thousands of wildfire victims, including a $13.5 billion settlement.
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PG&E Announces Settlement for Wildfire Victims Totaling Over $13B
PG&E has announced a settlement agreement with individual wildfire claimants for multiple fires totaling more than $13 billion. These fires include the 2017 Northern California wildfires, the 2015 Butte Fire and the Camp Fire in 2018 that leveled most of the town of Paradise. As a part of the settlement the company will also settle claims related to the Tubbs…
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‘She's Always Been a Fighter:' 75-Year-Old Grandmother Miraculously Survives Landslide That Wiped Out Her Home
Families in Marin County are moving back into their evacuated houses after Thursday’s mudslide in Sausalito wiped out two homes and nearly killed a grandmother asleep in her bed.
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PG&E Workers Hailed as Heroes for Saving a Life in Marin Co.
Two PG&E workers are being hailed as heroes after they reportedly saved at least one life while on the clock Thursday night.
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PG&E Ordered to Fix Power Shutoff Plan
The head of the state’s Public Utilities Commission on Monday ordered PG&E to revamp its power shutdown program to avoid the kind of chaos and breakdowns that were evident in last week’s planned blackouts.
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Officials: Power Shutdown Did Not Cause Death of Man on Oxygen
An autopsy has concluded that a planned power shutdown did not cause the death of a Northern California man dependent on oxygen who died about 12 minutes after PG&E shut down power in El Dorado County, California, on Wednesday. The El Dorado County Sheriff’s office said Friday that 67-year-old Robert Mardis died from severe coronary disease. The office said the...
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PG&E Power Shutoffs: How to Prepare, What to Do During an Outage
Kris Sanchez explains what you need to do to prepare for a PG&E power shutoff and what you should do when the lights go out.
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Insider Warned of Catastrophic Risk to PG&E's Aging Transmission System Before Camp Fire
Back in 2007, PG&E hired a low-key outsider, Ed Salas, to help assess the risks it faced. Although he lacked engineering experience, Salas had a background evaluating corporate risks in the telecommunications industry. When he got to the utility, Salas soon realized the enormity of his task.