Victims of the 2018 Camp Fire and other California wildfires now must file a claim with the court by October 21st, 2019 in order to be eligible for recovery. Camp Fire Attorney Mike Danko argued against this October deadline because he believes it often takes a year for fire victims to file a claim.
According to the Wall Street Journal, PG&E announced it will pay $1 billion to settle claims with 14 California governmental agencies. This is PG&E’s first settlement since filing for bankruptcy protection in January. The settlement comes after PG&E was deemed responsible by investigators for 18 fires in Northern California during 2017 and 2018, including the deadly Camp Fire. According to the article, the cities and counties involved in the settlement will use the payment to cover the millions of dollars in disaster-related expenses they incurred as a result of the 2017/2018 fires as well as one from the fall of 2015 in Calaveras County. The agreement will not have an impact on claims made from individuals or businesses seeking compensation from PG&E, whose downed power lines originally sparked the wildfires.
According to an article in the Sacramento Bee, PG&E has agreed to a $1 billion dollar settlement with 14 local government agencies seeking to cover the damage from a series of deadly wildfires in Northern California that killed 85 people and destroyed nearly 14,000 homes in 2017 and 2018. A majority of the $1 billion settlement will go to four California cities and counties with $270 million earmarked to go to Paradise, a NorCal town mostly destroyed by the Camp Fire.
Camp Fire Attorney Mike Danko interviewed with CNBC recently about the effects taking place months after the 2018 Camp Fire. Thousands of survivors are displaced from their homes and jobs to this day due to California’s most destructive wildfire. According to Mike Danko, not only did survivors lose their homes, but most of them also lost their jobs and other sources of income. During the interview, Mike stated:
Camp Fire Attorney Mike Danko spoke with KRON 4 about CAL Fire officially concluding that PG&E caused the deadly Camp Fire. According to Mike, PG&E is absolutely responsible not only for ensuring that wildfires like these are prevented going forward, but it is also responsible for directly paying for the recovery of the thousands of survivors. During his interview, Mike went on to say: