The wildfire was caused by sparks emanating from a broken hook on one of Pacific Gas & Electric's 100-year-old transmission lines. It was exacerbated when PG&E neglected to cut power despite fire hazard condition warnings in the area. The state-sanctioned monopoly adds salt to the wound by raising their rates during the aftermath. Erin Brockovich, longtime nemesis of the utility, makes a cameo during a meeting about the role it played in causing the fire. While it is not in the documentary, PG&E pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the fire earlier this year. The specific cause of the fire may have been a downed power line, but the conditions leading up to it were caused by capitalism and corporate irresponsibility. For the past 100 years, timber companies changed the environment as they circumnavigated logging regulations by overfilling the forest.