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State fire investigators have determined that transmission lines owned by Pacific Gas & Electric Co caused the deadliest and most destructive wildfire on record in California, a blaze that killed 85 people last year, officials said on Wednesday.
The wind-driven blaze, dubbed the Camp Fire, erupted in the drought-parched Sierra foothills 175 miles north of San Francisco in November 2018 and raced with little warning through the town of Paradise, incinerating much of that community.
Nearly 19,000 homes and other structures were destroyed, and the death toll of 85 civilians stands as the greatest loss of life from a single wildfire in California history. Several firefighters were injured.
The Camp Fire was part of the most destructive wildfire month in California’s history. The California Department of Insurance announced last week that insured losses climbed $614 million in the first three months of the year, pushing total claims for the fires in November 2018 to over $12 billion.
Cal Fire “has determined that the Camp Fire was caused by electrical transmission lines owned and operated” by PG&E near the small riverfront community of Pulga, about 10 miles northeast of Paradise in Butte County, the agency said in a statement.
