Sonoma County Files Criminal Charges Against PG&E In Kincade Fire patch.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from patch.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Sonoma County DA hits PG&E with criminal charges over 2019 Kincade Fire
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Soda Rock Winery erupts in flames after the fire jumped Highway 128 as the Kincade Fire burns outside Healdsburg on Oct. 27, 2019. Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch has started criminal proceedings against Pacific Gas and Electric for its role in starting the fire.Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
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A PG&E worker severs the power line from a fallen utility pole on Geysers Road as the Kincade Fire continues to burn out of control near Geyserville, Calif. on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019.Paul Chinn / The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
California s Pacific Gas & Electric charged in 2019 wildfire
DON THOMPSON, Associated Press
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1of3FILE - In this Oct. 27, 2019, file photo, flames from the Kincade Fire consume Soda Rock Winery in Healdsburg, Calif. A California prosecutor has charged troubled Pacific Gas & Electric with starting a 2019 wildfire. The Sonoma County District Attorney on Tuesday April 6, 2021, charged the utility in the October 2019 Kincade Fire north of San Francisco.Noah Berger/APShow MoreShow Less
2of3FILE - In this Feb 20, 2020, file photo, a Pacific Gas and Electric truck drives past a PG&E location in San Francisco. A California prosecutor has charged troubled Pacific Gas & Electric with starting a 2019 wildfire. The Sonoma County District Attorney on Tuesday April 6, 2021, charged the utility in the October 2019 Kincade Fire north of San Francisco.Jeff Chiu/APShow MoreShow Less
The 33 charges include recklessly causing a fire with great bodily injury to six firefighters.
Fire officials said PG&E transmission lines sparked the fire, which destroyed hundreds of homes and caused nearly 100,000 people to flee.
The charges and related enhancements also accuse the company of destroying inhabited structures and emitting air contaminates “with reckless disregard for the risk of great bodily injury” from toxic wildfire smoke and related particulate matter and ash, thereby endangering public health.
They allege that the utility failed to maintain services and facilities including transmission lines, one of several related misdemeanor charges.
It s the latest in a series of similar problems for the utility, which was also charged after another devastating fire destroyed much of the Sierra foothills community of Paradise in 2018 in the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California s recorded history.