A trio of company defendants agreed Friday to pay $22 million to settle claims with out admitting fault for the 2016 Rey hearth in California, which burned over 32,000 acres in Santa Barbara County.
On Aug. 18, 2016, a tree fell on a powerline owned by Southern California Edison and a communications line owned by Frontier Communications.
The U.S. authorities alleged that the tree’s influence brought about malfunctions farther down the grid, and that an energized SCE powerline fell to the bottom, sparking the fireplace amidst dry vegetation.
The Rey hearth would proceed to burn from Aug. 18 to Sept. 16, 2016, burning over 32,000 acres, together with 19,000 acres of nationally-owned woodland, together with components of the Los Padres National Forest.
In 2019, the federal government on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service filed swimsuit in opposition to SCE and Frontier, in addition to Utility Tree Service, which had a contract to handle vegetation for SCE on the time of the fireplace.
“This settlement will compensate the public for the expense of fighting the Rey Fire and restoring these federal lands that are enjoyed by all Americans,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Joseph McNally stated in an announcement.
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