Wildfire Litigation
The Dixie Fire: What Victims Need to Know and How We Are Fighting for Them
In July 2021, a tree fell into a Pacific Gas and Electric power line near Cresta Dam in Plumas County, California. Within days, what began as a small ignition became the largest single wildfire in California history — burning nearly one million acres across Plumas, Butte, Lassen, Shasta, Tehama, and Trinity counties, destroying over 1,300 structures, and forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee their homes and communities.
The Dixie Fire was not an act of nature. It was the predictable consequence of a utility company that had been warned about hazardous trees near its equipment and chose not to act.
I serve as court-appointed liaison counsel in the Dixie Fire litigation in San Francisco. That means my team and I are at the center of one of the most significant wildfire cases in California history — and we are not done yet.
What Caused the Dixie Fire
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and other investigators determined that the Dixie Fire originated when a tree contacted PG&E electrical distribution lines. PG&E’s own vegetation management records showed that hazardous trees in the area had been flagged before the fire. The utility failed to remove or address those trees in time.
This is a pattern that has defined PG&E’s history in Northern California — not a one-time failure, but a systemic disregard for the safety obligations that come with operating electrical infrastructure in some of the most fire-prone terrain in the world. The Camp Fire. The North Complex Fire. And now the Dixie Fire. The same company. The same failures. The same devastated communities.
What It Means to Be Liaison Counsel
When a wildfire generates thousands of individual claims, the court appoints liaison counsel to coordinate the litigation — managing communication between the various plaintiff legal teams, organizing discovery, and serving as the primary point of contact between the plaintiffs’ side and the court.
It is a position of significant responsibility, and it is one the court does not assign lightly. My appointment in the Dixie Fire case reflects the track record my team has built over two decades of wildfire litigation — from the Camp Fire to the Thomas Fire to dozens of others across California and beyond.
For victims, it means having someone at the table who has been through this before, who understands the legal and evidentiary landscape, and who is committed to seeing the case through to a result that reflects the true scope of what these communities lost.
The Scale of the Destruction
Numbers can be difficult to absorb when they reach a certain scale, but the Dixie Fire demands that we sit with them:
- Nearly one million acres burned — the largest single wildfire in California’s recorded history
- Over 1,300 structures destroyed
- Six counties affected across Northern California
- The entire town of Greenville reduced to ash
- Thousands of residents displaced, many permanently
Greenville is perhaps the most visceral symbol of what the Dixie Fire took. A Gold Rush-era town in the Sierra Nevada mountains, with a main street that had stood for over a century — gone in an afternoon. The people who lived there did not just lose their homes. They lost their community, their history, and in many cases, their livelihoods.
What Victims Can Recover
Dixie Fire victims who have suffered losses may be entitled to compensation for a range of damages, including:
- Destruction of or damage to real property and structures
- Loss of personal property and belongings
- Additional living expenses incurred during displacement
- Lost income and business interruption
- Emotional distress and mental health impacts
- Diminution in property value
- In appropriate cases, punitive damages
The amount any individual victim can recover depends on the specific nature and extent of their losses, the evidence supporting their claim, and the overall resolution of the litigation. What I can tell you is that my team approaches every single case as if it is the only one — because for the person living it, it is.
Why Deadlines Matter
One of the most important things I tell every potential client is this: do not wait. California has statutes of limitations that govern how long you have to file a claim after a loss like this. Missing that deadline can permanently extinguish your right to any recovery, regardless of how strong your case might be.
If you were affected by the Dixie Fire and have not yet filed a claim or spoken with an attorney, reach out to us today. A conversation costs nothing. The cost of waiting could be everything.
What Comes Next
The Dixie Fire litigation is ongoing. Complex cases of this magnitude take time — building the evidentiary record, working through discovery, managing the coordination of thousands of individual claims, and ultimately achieving a resolution that reflects what was truly lost. My team is committed to seeing it through.
For the families who watched Greenville burn. For the ranchers who lost land their families had worked for generations. For every person who drove away from the fire not knowing whether they would ever have a home to return to — this case is for them. And we will not stop until it is resolved.