PG&E to Pay $22 Million Over 2022 Mosquito Fire as Foresthill Remembers

Four years later, the Placer County community of Foresthill is still reckoning with what the Mosquito Fire took from them. On September 6, 2022, the wildfire ignited and burned for nearly seven weeks, consuming 76,788 acres, destroying 78 structures, and damaging 13 others before it was finally contained on October 22. At its worst, the flames climbed a steep cliff and nearly overran the town entirely—a moment residents here will never forget.

Now, Pacific Gas&Electric Co. faces financial accountability. The California Public Utilities Commission has proposed a $22 million settlement after finding that PG&E violated safety regulations governing the design, construction, and maintenance of overhead electrical lines. The breakdown matters: $21 million from shareholder funds will go to California’s General Fund, while an additional $1 million will fund an independent expert review of PG&E’s Transmission Centralized Inspection Review Team operations. The utility has also been ordered to conduct its own review of that program at shareholder expense.

Here’s the thing about accountability in wildfire cases—the settlement amount rarely feels proportional to what communities actually lose. Dolores Palmer, known affectionately in Foresthill as Mama Laurie, captured the emotional truth in recent reflections:“We come so close, so close to losing everything and it still makes me cry.”Jennifer Jewell evacuated fearing her house was gone. Justin Montgomery stayed behind to care for neighbors’animals when authorities had cleared out. These are the stories a settlement figure can’t quantify.

What makes this moment significant is that it comes with action beyond the check. PG&E is required to actually examine how its inspection systems work—a potential step toward preventing the next fire. Federal officials had already seized PG&E equipment as part of the investigation, though the official cause of the Mosquito Fire still hasn’t been determined.

The California Public Utilities Commission is now accepting public comment on the settlement. For Foresthill, which wore the resilience mantra“Foresthill Stronger”on car windows in the aftermath, this settlement represents both acknowledgment of harm and a reminder that regulatory consequences, while necessary, are only part of rebuilding a community that nearly burned to the ground.