California utility to pay 55 million dollars over massive wildfires

Pacific Gas & Electric has been blamed for more than 30 wildfires since 2017 that wiped out more than 23,000 homes and businesses and killed more than 100 people

(Jeff Chiu/AP)

Pacific Gas & Electric has agreed to pay more than 55 million US dollars to avoid criminal prosecution for two major wildfires started by aging Northern California power lines.

PG&E does not admit wrongdoing in the two settlements reached with prosecutors for last year’s Dixie Fire — one of the biggest wildfires in California’s history — and the 2019 Kincade Fire in Sonoma County.