“Paradise News

Study Explores Social Legacy of Frequent Wildfires

Three months after the most destructive fire in California’s history, while the residents of Paradise were sifting through the rubble of their houses, Catrin Edgeley took her notebook and recorder to the destroyed town. She wanted to understand the ecology …

PG&E Prioritized Targets Over Reducing Fire Risk, Monitor Says

PG&E Corp. prioritized meeting inspection targets over meaningful reduction of wildfire risk, according to a monitor overseeing the utility’s program of trimming trees and vegetation that pose a threat of igniting devastating blazes in California. Among the court-appointed compliance monitor’s …

These Scientists Are Studying Why California Keeps Burning

Residents of fire-ravaged Western states, and an entire world of observers looking on in horror, have asked themselves, “How can this be happening?” As fire last week taunted Paradise, California, destroyed in the 2018 Camp Fire, many others have found …

‘Rebuilding Paradise’ Looks At Emotional Toll of Deadly Fire

SAN FRANCISCO — Almost two years since a wildfire swept through his mountain town and virtually wiped it out, Steve “Woody” Culleton got to put the final touches on his new home. Two redwood trees were planted in the ground, …

California Homeowners Are Doomed to Repeat Their Past Mistakes

On Oct. 8, 2017, sparks from private electric equipment set fire to the dry hills of Northern California’s wine country, but it was only once the flames jumped from the grasslands to densely packed Santa Rosa that the destruction intensified. …

PG&E Exits Bankruptcy After Wildfires Pushed It to Brink of Ruin

Nearly a year and a half after collapsing under $30 billion in liabilities from wildfires sparked by its equipment, PG&E Corp. has emerged from the biggest utility bankruptcy in U.S. history. The California power giant said in a statement Wednesday …

PG&E to Purge Most of its Board in Fallout From Bankruptcy

BERKELEY, Calif. — PG&E Corp. will sweep out three quarters of its board of directors to start with a mostly clean slate when it emerges from a bankruptcy case triggered by deadly wildfires ignited in Northern California by the utility’s …

PG&E Plan Has Broad Support From Fire Victims, Lawyers Say

Lawyers for more than half the wildfire victims who negotiated a $13.5 billion settlement with PG&E Corp. say their clients plan to vote overwhelmingly in favor of the bankrupt utility’s reorganization plan. The attorneys represent about 40,300 of the estimated …

PG&E Could Have Prevented Deadly California Fire, State Says

Bankrupt utility giant PG&E Corp. for years failed to properly inspect and maintain its transmission system — an oversight that led a live wire to fall and ignite the deadliest blaze in California history last year, state investigators said. A …

PG&E Faces Strict Probation Judge After Massive Kincade Fire

For the first time since a fire last month scorched 77,758 acres of northern California, PG&E Corp. returns to the courtroom of the judge whose personal crusade is to “reduce to zero” the number of wildfires caused by the utility’s …