The California Public Utilities Commission has approved a settlement between its Safety and Enforcement Division and PG&E for its involvement in the 2021 Dixie Fire.

The fire started on July 13, 2021 after a Douglas fir tree fell and struck energized conductors owned and operated by PG&E. 

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, PG&E will pay a $45 million penalty, consisting of:

  • $40 million in shareholder funding for capital expenditures for an initiative to transition from hard copy records to electronic records for distribution patrols and inspections;
  • $2.5 million in fines to the California General Fund; and,
  • $2.5 million in payments to tribes impacted by the Dixie Fire for remediations (PG&E will distribute payments to the Greenville Rancheria and Maidu Summitt Consortium, a non-profit representing a number of Mountain Maidu groups, tribes, non-profits, and grassroots organizations).

The Dixie Fire burned on the Plumas National Forest, Lassen National Forest, Lassen Volcanic National Park, and across five counties: Butte, Lassen, Plumas, Shasta and Tehama.

The Dixie Fire remains the second largest fire in California's recorded history, after the August Complex that burned more than one million acres.Â