California fire victims see little payout from settlement
May 6, 2021
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1of3FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2018, file photo, charred footprints of homes leveled by the Camp Fire line the streets at the Ridgewood Mobile Home Park retirement community in Paradise, Calif. A trust approved by a federal judge to help compensate victims of deadly California wildires sparked by Pacific Gas & Electric equipment paid survivors just $7 million while racking up $51 million in overhead in its first year of operation, KQED News reported.Noah Berger/APShow MoreShow Less
2of3FILE - In this Nov. 8, 2018 file photo, a home burns as a wildfire called the Camp Fire rages through Paradise, Calif. A trust approved by a federal judge to help compensate victims of deadly California wildires sparked by Pacific Gas & Electric equipment paid survivors just $7 million while racking up $51 million in overhead in its first year of operation, KQED News reported.Noah Berger/APShow Mor
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Bill Cook s family home in Paradise was destroyed by the Camp Fire, sparked by PG&E equipment in 2018. Like the vast majority of the 67,000 victims of multiple PG&E-related fires included in a December 2019 settlement with the company, Cook s family has yet to see a dime.
(Courtesy Bill Cook)
Retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer Bill Cook lost his home in Paradise during the Camp Fire, the 2018 blaze sparked by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. equipment that ranks as the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
More than two years later, Cook, 70, and his family are barely scraping by. Like Cook, the vast majority of the 67,000 PG&E fire victims included in a December 2019 settlement with the company have yet to see a dime. That s as lawyers and administrators have been paid millions, with the money coming directly from funds set aside to help survivors like Cook.