A California utility said in a federal court filing this week that 2017's deadly Tubbs Fire in Napa, Sonoma and Lake counties, which killed 22 people, was likely sparked by electrical equipment on private property that had been installed and repaired without permits, NBC News reported.
The Tubbs Fire was one of 22 devastating fires that spread across the wine country and beyond that fall, destroying more than 5,600 structures, state fire officials said. Pacific Gas and Electric has been blamed for a dozen of the October blazes, but the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, has not concluded its investigation into the cause of the Tubbs Fire.
"The evidence supports the conclusion that this equipment, located beyond PG&E’s service delivery point, was planned, designed, installed, maintained and operated by third parties, not PG&E," lawyers for the utility wrote in a 16-page supplemental filing that offers their description of the incident.
PG&E could face charges up to murder if it's found criminally liable in any of the state's recent wildfires, California's attorney general said in a court filing last week.
