"In the summer of 2017, before a series of wildfires ripped across California's wine country, killing 44 people, incinerating thousands of homes and causing $9.4 billion in damage, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. was riding high.

The San Francisco-based power company had recently resolved a lawsuit stemming from a 2010 pipeline explosion. Moody's Investors Service had just upgraded the company's credit rating. And the company's stock was trading for more than $60 a share.

Two years later, PG&E is headed for bankruptcy, its senior executives departed and balance sheet torched by a pair of unprecedented wildfire seasons. California investigators have tied at least 17 major wildfires to PG&E in 2017, and a downed PG&E power line is suspected of having caused the deadly 2018 Camp Fire north of Sacramento. The company now faces up to $30 billion in fire liabilities, a sum that exceeds its assets and insurance."

Benjamin Storrow reports for ClimateWire January 16, 2019. [2]