The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered at Kaiser Center, in Oakland, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 million households in the northern two-thirds of California, from Bakersfield and northern Santa Barbara County, almost to the Oregon and Nevada state lines.
2014 saw several notable wildfires igniting in California, especially during the month of May, when multiple fires were ablaze concurrently in Southern California, and during September, when several massive wildfires were burning in Northern California. In the context of the 2012–13 North American drought, as well as powerful Santa Ana winds, weather conditions were ideal for wildfires. A total of 7,865 wildfires ignited throughout the year, which burned at least 625,540 acres (2,531.5 km2) of land. The wildfires caused a total of 146 injuries and 2 fatalities, in addition to causing at least $204.05 million in damage.
By the end of 2015 a total of 8,745 wildfires were recorded across the state of California, burning 893,362 acres (3,615 km2). Approximately 3,159 structures were damaged or destroyed by wildfires, and at least 7 fatalities were recorded.
The Valley Fire was a wildfire during the 2015 California wildfire season that started on September 12 in Lake County, California. It began shortly after 1:00 pm near Cobb with multiple reports of a small brush fire near the intersection of High Valley and Bottlerock Roads. It quickly spread and by 6:30 PM PDT, it had burned more than 10,000 acres (40 km2). By Sunday, the thirteenth of September, the fire had reached 50,000 acres (202 km2) and had destroyed much of Cobb, Middletown, Whispering Pines, and parts in the south end of Hidden Valley Lake. The fire ultimately spread to 76,067 acres (308 km2), killed four people and destroyed nearly 2,000 buildings, before it was fully contained on October 15, 2015, causing at least $921 million in insured property damage. At the time, the fire was the third-most destructive fire in California history, based on the total structures burned, but the Camp Fire (2018) and the North Complex fire in 2020 exceeded that total.
The Erskine Fire was a wildfire in the Lake Isabella area of Kern County. It was the second-largest wildfire of the 2016 California wildfire season. It was also the first fire of the year to have fatalities and is the 15th most destructive fire in state history.
The Trailhead Fire was a wildfire burning in the Middle Fork American River canyon in both Placer County and El Dorado County, California. As of July 18, 2016 the fire has consumed 5,646 acres (22.85 km2) and is 100% contained.
During 2003, 9,116 wildfires burned 1,020,460 acres (4,129.7 km2) across the US state of California. In October, a major wildfire outbreak in Southern California burned more than 750,000 acres, destroyed thousands of homes, and killed two dozen people. Many of the victims were killed in their cars while trying to flee.
The Tubbs Fire was a wildfire in Northern California during October 2017. At the time, the Tubbs Fire was the most destructive wildfire in California history, burning parts of Napa, Sonoma, and Lake counties, inflicting its greatest losses in the city of Santa Rosa. Its destructiveness was surpassed only a year later by the Camp Fire of 2018. The Tubbs Fire was one of more than a dozen large fires that broke out in early October 2017, which were simultaneously burning in eight Northern California counties, in what was called the "Northern California firestorm". By the time of its containment on October 31, the fire was estimated to have burned 36,810 acres (149 km2); at least 22 people were believed to have been killed in Sonoma County by the fire.
The October 2017 Northern California wildfires, also known as the Northern California firestorm, North Bay Fires, and the Wine Country Fires were a series of 250 wildfires that started burning across the state of California, United States, beginning in early October. Twenty-one became major fires that burned at least 245,000 acres (99,148 ha).
The 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California's Butte County was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history. The fire began on the morning of Thursday, November 8, 2018, when part of a poorly maintained Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) transmission line in the Feather River Canyon failed during strong katabatic winds. Those winds rapidly drove the Camp Fire through the communities of Concow, Magalia, Butte Creek Canyon, and Paradise, largely destroying them. The fire burned for another two weeks, and was contained on Sunday, November 25, after burning 153,336 acres (62,050 ha). The Camp Fire caused 85 fatalities, displaced more than 50,000 people, and destroyed more than 18,000 structures, causing an estimated US$16.5 billion in damage. It was the most expensive natural disaster by insured losses of 2018, and is a notable case of a utility-caused wildfire.
The Kincade Fire was a wildfire that burned in Sonoma County, California in the United States. The fire started northeast of Geyserville in The Geysers at 9:24 p.m. on October 23, 2019, and subsequently burned 77,758 acres (31,468 ha) until the fire was fully contained on November 6, 2019. The fire threatened over 90,000 structures and caused widespread evacuations throughout Sonoma County, including the communities of Geyserville, Healdsburg, Windsor, and Santa Rosa. The majority of Sonoma County and parts of Lake County were under evacuation warnings and orders. Lake county only had one evacuation order and that was the town of Middletown. The fire was the largest of the 2019 California wildfire season, and also the largest wildfire recorded in Sonoma County at the time before being surpassed by the LNU Lightning Complex fires in 2020.
John K. Trotter Jr. is an American jurist who served for 5 years as the Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Third Division. After 1987, he was a major contributor to the advancement of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as one of the founding members of JAMS.
The Superior Court of California, County of Calaveras, also known as the Calaveras County Superior Court, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Calaveras County.
The 2021 Dixie Fire was an enormous wildfire in Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta, and Tehama counties in Northern California. Named after a nearby Dixie Road, the fire began in the Feather River Canyon near Cresta Dam in Butte County on July 13, 2021, and burned 963,309 acres (389,837 ha) before it was declared 100 percent contained on October 25, 2021. It was the largest single source wildfire in recorded California history, and the second-largest wildfire overall, The fire damaged or destroyed several communities, including Greenville on August 4, Canyondam on August 5, and Warner Valley on August 12.
By the end of the year, a total of 7,667 wildfires had been recorded throughout the U.S. state of California, totaling approximately 363,939 acres across the state. Wildfires killed nine people in California in 2022, destroyed 772 structures, and damaged another 104. The 2020 and 2021 wildfire seasons had the highest and second-highest (respectively) numbers of acres burned in the historical record, with a sharp drop in acreage burned.
The Electra Fire was a wildfire that burned northeast of Mokelumne Hill in Amador and Calaveras Counties, California that started on July 4, 2022. The wildfire burned a total of 4,478 acres (1,812 ha) and was fully contained on July 28, 2022.
The Mosquito Fire was California's largest wildfire in 2022. The fire began on September 6, burned 76,788 acres in Placer and El Dorado counties in September and October, and was pronounced fully contained on October 22. It affected the Tahoe and Eldorado National Forests and destroyed 78 structures in the rural communities of Michigan Bluff, Foresthill, and Volcanoville. The fire suppression effort cost more than $180 million, and at its peak involved more than 3,700 firefighters. The precise cause of the fire is not known, but the possible role of Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) equipment is the subject of multiple civil lawsuits and a Forest Service investigation. The Mosquito Fire was one of 7,477 wildfires in California in 2022, which burned a combined 331,358 acres (134,096 ha).
According to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection statistics, 9,317 wildfires burned a total of 377,340 acres in the US state of California in 2001.
The 2001 Poe Fire was a destructive wildfire in Butte County, Northern California. After igniting on September 6, the fire burned 8,333 acres and destroyed at least 133 structures in the Big Bend and Yankee Hill areas north of Oroville before it was fully contained on September 12, 2001. The fire was the most destructive incident of California's 2001 wildfire season.
