CAL FIRE investigators have determined PG&E equipment sparked the devastating Dixie Fire.
A "tree contacting electrical distribution lines owned and operated by" the utility caused the fire, the state agency announced on Tuesday night. The tree was located in Feather River Canyon, just west of Cuesta Dam.
The Dixie Fire burned 963,309 acres in Butte, Lassen, Plumas, Shasta and Tehama counties, destroying 1,329 structures and damaging 95 others. It burned more acres than all but one other wildfire in state history and destroyed more structures than all but 13. Several small towns, including Greenville and Canyondam, were destroyed in the blaze.
PG&E had told the California Public Utilities Commission in a report published in July that its equipment might have sparked the fire. CAL FIRE said the agency forwarded its findings to the Butte County District Attorney's Office, adding to the utility's increasingly long list of legal challenges.
The utility pleaded guilty in 2020 to 84 criminal counts for its role in the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest in California history. PG&E will pay $125 million in penalties for its role in the 2019 Kincade Fire, and the company has pleaded not guilty to 33 criminal charges in Sonoma County. Shasta County in September charged PG&E with 31 counts for its role in the 2020 Zogg Fire.
Taken together, those four fires killed at least 90 people, burned more than 1.25 million acres and destroyed nearly 21,000 structures as the state has contended with greater wildfire risk as a consequence of climate change.
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