Utility: We did kill 84 in Calif. blaze

SAN RAMON, Calif. — Pacific Gas & Electric confessed Tuesday to killing 84 people in a devastating 2018 wildfire that wiped out the Northern California town of Paradise in November 2018.

PG&E CEO Bill Johnson entered guilty pleas on behalf of the company for 84 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter stemming from the fire, which was blamed on the company's crumbling electrical grid.

“Our equipment started that fire,” said Johnson, who apologized directly to the victims' families. “PG&E will never forget the Camp Fire and all that it took away from the region.”

Although the admission was part of a plea deal, it came during a dramatic court hearing designed to publicly shame the nation's largest utility for neglecting its infrastructure.

Butte County Superior Court Judge Michael Deems read the name of each victim aloud in the courtroom while the images of the dead were shown on large screen as Johnson entered a plea for each of the counts.

Later Tuesday, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey was expected to release a long-awaited grand jury indictment detailing the corporate misconduct that ignited the November 2018 wildfire that destroyed Paradise, located about 170 miles northeast of San Francisco.

PG&E has agreed to pay a maximum fine of $3.5 million for its crimes in addition to $500,000 for the cost of the investigation. The San Francisco company won't be placed on criminal probation, unlike what happened after its natural gas lines blew up a neighborhood in San Bruno, Calif., killing eight people in 2010.

More than 20 family members of people killed in the 2018 wildfire are expected to appear before Deems in a proceeding Wednesday.