Tubbs fire report a blow to plaintiffs suing PG&E

Thousands of people who lost their homes and much of what made up their lives to the Tubbs fire withstood another blow Thursday when they learned that Cal Fire has cleared PG&E of responsibility for the catastrophic blaze.

Tubbs fire victims were strongly represented among those suing the utility giant in the wake of the October 2017 firestorm, at least 18 major fires swept across Northern California, scorching 137 square miles of Sonoma County.

All those fires have since been attributed by the state to PG&E power equipment save one - the Tubbs, the most devastating and deadly. Investigators have pointed in that case to private electrical equipment on a Calistoga-area property owned by a 91-year-old Riverside woman and looked after by a local caretaker.

Many plaintiffs fear the new report puts millions of dollars in potential legal awards out of reach. Even more, they worry PG&E will not be pressed to make the investments necessary to ensure that no such wildfire can result from its utility equipment.

“My motivation is not to have a few extra dollars in a year,” said Will Abrams, whose family survived a harrowing escape from their Riebli Road home after the flames had arrived. “My motivation is to know that we’re in a safe place - to know that we’re not going to have to go through that again.”

Swath of destruction

From its start in Napa County, the Tubbs fire, the worst on record at the time in California, raced across the Mayacamas Mountains into Santa Rosa, killing 22 people and destroying 4,651 homes.

Attorneys representing some of the estimated 6,000 or more plaintiffs who sued PG&E said Cal Fire may not have the final word on liability. Most legal firms have their own fire investigators, and some lawyers on Thursday appeared prepared to challenge the agency’s findings.

They include Santa Rosa resident Roy Miller, whose home was destroyed by the Tubbs fire and whose firm represents about 1,200 people displaced by the blaze.

His investigators disagreed with the report’s conclusions. PG&E failed to utilize basic safety measures at the time, like powering down the grid during extreme wind and weather conditions, a step that might have prevented the destructive firestorm, he said.

“I’ve done everything I could to counsel every client of mine to not count on anything specific from PG&E,” Miller said.

Dashed hopes

Chris Diaz, who is in the midst of rebuilding at the north end of Coffey Park, is one of many fire survivors who had sued PG&E in hopes of closing some of the gap between his insurance payout and the cost of his new home.

The dismay in his voice was clear Thursday.

“We have taken out loans, and we’re talking about loans in the hundreds of thousands, so we were counting on something from the Tubbs fire (litigation),” he said. “Ten minutes ago it would have been ‘We are.’ Now it’s ‘We were.’ I don’t know how these things work, but it’s usually not a good sign if Cal Fire says it was not caused by PG&E.”

Larkfield resident Brad Sherwood said any settlement would certainly help with the expense of rebuilding for any of the plaintiffs. But a key concern, he said, is arriving at certainty on a cause to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself.

“I just hope this doesn’t discourage people from rebuilding and staying in the community,” he said. “That’s my fear.”

Not finished fighting

Barry Hirsch, who already has rebuilt his home on Michele Way off Mark West Springs Road, said he and his wife were not interested in joining the suit, but said everyone else he knows from the fire zone did.

“One of my neighbors was promised a seven-?figure settlement,” Hirsch said. “That’s a lot of money. A million!”

Another of his neighbors, Gary Bayless, said he’s still hopeful attorneys fighting for those who lost property in the fires will successfully dispute Cal Fire’s findings.

But he suspects he and the other plaintiffs will be hard-pressed to get much from PG&E, given its stated plans to file for bankruptcy.

“I know all the attorneys out there that have put together these cases aren’t going to roll over and say, ‘OK, that’s what Cal Fire decided,’?” Diaz said.

“The bottom line is we were counting on hopefully having an opportunity to get some money for a loss that we’ve incurred, and 10 minutes ago hopefully PG&E was on that list,” he said. “If they’re not on that list, there aren’t many options for us.”

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.