A coalition of timber companies has filed a lawsuit against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. seeking approximately $225 million in damages from a 2021 fire sparked by a utility power line.

The complaint, filed on Wednesday by Oregon-based Collins Pine Co. and six affiliated timber businesses with property in the Collins Almanor Forest in Plumas and Tehama counties, alleges that PG&E failed to properly manage the forest and electrical equipment to prevent the devastating Dixie fire, resulting in massive financial damages for the businesses.

A 2022 investigation by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection found that the Dixie fire, the second-largest in California history, was caused by a tree contacting electrical distribution lines owned and operated by the utility company.

The timber companies claimed that the fire, which burned through nearly 1 million acres in Butte, Plumas, Shasta, Lassen, and Tehama counties in the summer and fall of 2021, incinerated approximately 55,000 acres of their property, including commercial-grade timber, trees of various species and ages (some over 200 years old), roads, structures, bridges, culverts, and many research plots.

Collins Pine Co. claimed that the fire also burned an additional 500 acres of land for which it owns timber rights, and its mill suffered significant damage with the timber supply being ruined.

The total damages amount to more than $225 million combined.

The complaint, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges that PG&E negligently, recklessly, and willfully failed to properly inspect, repair, maintain, and operate its electrical equipment and surrounding vegetation, including hazardous trees.

“Had Defendants acted responsibly, the Dixie Fire could have been prevented,” the companies stated.

PG&E spokesperson JD Guidi did not comment on the allegations but mentioned that the company is aware of the lawsuit being filed.

The Dixie fire burned through Northern California for over three months and is considered one of the state’s most destructive blazes. Drought conditions and changing wind patterns fueled the fire to escalate into a massive inferno that ravaged several rural counties, destroying the town of Greenville and enveloping the region in thick smoke.

In January, the California Public Utilities Commission fined PG&E $45 million for its involvement in the fire, which was linked to a Douglas fir tree that fell and struck energized conductors owned and operated by the utility company.

This penalty is part of a series of fines, lawsuits, and legislative actions aimed at holding PG&E accountable for various fires sparked by its equipment.

Other fires attributed to PG&E’s equipment include the Zogg fire in 2020, the 2019 Kincade fire, and the infamous Camp fire in 2018, California’s deadliest wildfire that consumed 153,000 acres and claimed 85 lives, many in Paradise.

In 2019, the utility company filed for bankruptcy to shield itself from potential liabilities amounting to tens of billions of dollars.

During the same year, state legislators passed a bill establishing a wildfire recovery fund of over $21 billion for victims.