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

Amador County Amador County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,474. The county seat is Jackson. Amador County, located within California's Gold Country, is known as ...

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 ...

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

. 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 Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of St ...

declared a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

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 and Mountain Ranch 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 Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered in the Pacific Gas & Electric Building, in San Francisco, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 milli ...

," 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