Community Corner
Deadline For Filing Sonoma County PG&E Wildfire Claims Is 5 P.M.
The Bay Area service centers receiving claims are at 1850 Soscol Avenue, Suite 105, in Napa and at 111 Stony Circle in Santa Rosa.
By Julia Cheevers, Bay City News Service
NORTH BAY, CA — Tuesday is the deadline for Northern California wildfire victims to file claims with the federal bankruptcy court overseeing PG&E's bankruptcy case. Claims must be filed either online or in person at any of six service centers by 5 p.m. Dec. 31.
The online form and information about the process are at www.officialfireclaims.com/. A court-appointed claims agent estimates the form takes less than 30 minutes to fill out.
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The Bay Area service centers receiving claims are at 111 Stony Circle in Santa Rosa and at 1850 Soscol Avenue, Suite 105, in Napa. Other centers, with addresses given on the claims website, are in Chico, Marysville, Oroville and Redding.
The claims can be for Northern California wildfire losses that were caused or allegedly caused by failures of PG&E electrical equipment before January 29, 2019, the date the utility filed its Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco.
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The fires covered include the 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County; the 2017 North Bay fires, including the Tubbs Fire; the Ghost Ship Fire in Oakland in 2016 and the Butte Fire of 2015.
Homeowners, renters, landlords, farmers and businesses with losses that have not been compensated by insurance, or not fully compensated, can file claims.
The types of losses that can be claimed include damage to houses, structures, trees or landscaping; loss of personal property; injury or wrongful death; business or agricultural losses, evacuation, displacement and relocation expenses; and emotional distress.
Payment of the claims is expected to be made from a proposed $13.5 billion fund. Both PG&E and a group of bondholders have proposed such a fund in rival plans for the utility's exit from bankruptcy.
People who don't file a claim by the 5 p.m. deadline may forfeit their chance to be compensated for their losses.
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