The Butte Fire was a rapidly moving wildfire during the 2015 California wildfire season that started on September 9 in Amador County,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The fire burned . The fire started at 2:26 P.M. on Wednesday, September 9, just east of

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

, when a tree came into contact with a power line, and quickly grew to over by that evening. By Thursday, the fire had spread into Calaveras County and more than doubled in size over . Officials stated that the fire was expanding in all directions and that efforts were being hampered by difficult

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...

. Early on Friday, September 11,

Cal Fire The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) is the fire department of the California Natural Resources Agency in the U.S. state of California. It is responsible for fire protection in various areas under state responsi ...

issued a mandatory evacuation for all of San Andreas, as the fire exploded again to , but at 4:30 P.M. PDT, that order was lifted. Officials from the

Amador County Unified School District Amador County Unified School District is a public school district based in Amador County, California, United States. It includes Ione Elementary, Jackson Elementary, Pine Grove Elementary, Pioneer Elementary, Sutter Creek Elementary, Sutter Cree ...

chose to close all schools in the district on Friday as well. Later that day, as the fire continued to grow, Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Amador and Calaveras counties. On September 16, the Calaveras County coroner announced that the bodies of two people had been found in the

Mokelumne Hill Mokelumne Hill (''Mokelumne'', Miwok for "People of the Fish Net") is a census-designated place (CDP) in Calaveras County, California, United States. The population was 646 at the 2010 census, down from 774 at the 2000 census. It is commonly referr ...

and

Mountain Ranch Mountain Ranch (formerly, El Dorado and El Dorado Town) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Calaveras County, California, United States. The population was 1,628 at the 2010 census, up from 1,557 at the 2000 census. The town is registered as Cali ...

areas.

Wildfire victim claims

On June 22, 2017, Sacramento Judge Allen Sumner ruled that because "...the Butte Fire was caused by a public improvement as deliberately designed and constructed by Pacific Gas and Electric Company," the company is liable for all property damages caused by the fire. On July 1, 2020, the PG&E Fire Victim Trust (FVT) was established as part of the reorganization plan of the 2019 bankruptcy of PG&E to administer the claims of the wildfire victims. Also on July 1, PG&E funded the Fire Victim Trust (FVT) with $5.4 billion in cash and 22.19% of stock in the reorganized PG&E, which covers most of the obligations of its settlement for the wildfire victims. PG&E has two more payments totaling $1.35 billion in cash, scheduled to be paid in January 2021 and January 2022, to complete its obligations to the wildfire victims.

References

{{California wildfires by year 2015 California wildfires Wildfires in Amador County, California Wildfires in Calaveras County, California 2015 in California September 2015 events in the United States