California’s bankrupt power producer PG&E Corp. said on Friday that it had reached a $13.5 billion settlement with victims of some of the most devastating wildfires in the state’s modern history, Reuters reported. The agreement helps smooth the way for the beleaguered company to emerge from bankruptcy. It filed for chapter 11 protection in January, citing potential liabilities in excess of $30 billion from wildfires in 2017 and 2018 linked to its equipment. State fire investigators in May determined that PG&E transmission lines caused the deadliest and most destructive wildfire on record in California, the wind-driven Camp Fire that killed 85 people in and around the town of Paradise last year. They likewise concluded that PG&E power lines had sparked a separate flurry of wildfires that swept California’s wine country north of San Francisco Bay in 2017. The agreed settlement is subject to a number of conditions and requires confirmation by the United States Bankruptcy Court, the company said. It faces a tight deadline as it needs to exit bankruptcy by June 30, 2020 to participate in a state-backed wildfire fund that would help reduce the threat to utilities from wildfires.
