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Firefighters try to contain a fire so it doesn’t spread to a neighboring building as the Camp Fire moves through the area on November 8, 2018 in Paradise, California.
Shares of utility PG&E fell 20 percent on Wednesday after the company said that if its equipment is responsible for the “Camp Fire” burning in Northern California, the cost of the damage would exceed its insurance coverage and harm its financial health.
“While the cause of the Camp Fire is still under investigation, if the Utility’s equipment is determined to be the cause, the Utility could be subject to significant liability in excess of insurance coverage,” the company said in a documented filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. That would “have a material impact on PG&E Corporation’s and the Utility’s financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, and cash flows.”
PG&E, owner of Pacific Gas & Electric Company, said its subsidiary has drawn down $3 billion from its credit line in anticipation of a fire-related liability. At least 42 people have died in the fire and a record 7,600 homes and other structures have been destroyed, according to official estimates. Hundreds of people remains missing.
Though the cause of the of Camp Fire — which has engulfed some 117,000 acres in California’s Butte County — remains under investigation, the utility company also said Tuesday that it submitted an “electric incident report” to the California Public Utilities Commission on Nov. 8, just before the wildfire.
The report indicated a power failure on a transmission line in Butte Country at 6:15 a.m. PST that day. The fire was reported at 6:33 a.m. PST, according to state records.
