A message from the Plumas District Attorney regarding evacuation orders, price gouging

August 5, 2021 Editor

Thank you, all, for the patience and care for our communities shown during this challenging time. There have been a number of emails and phone calls with questions I hope to answer…

Mandatory Evacuation Orders

If you receive a mandatory evacuation order, please leave the area immediately. Those that remain after receiving such an order are putting themselves at risk as well as their own property and that of their neighbors. When people remain during a mandatory evacuation order it distracts our firefighters and first responders and shifts their focus to dealing with the person violating the order instead of saving our homes and putting this fire out. Again, please evacuate immediately upon receiving a mandatory evacuation order. We have had situations of people ignoring this order and entering a mandatory evacuation area to “see what’s going on” or “visit a friend.” These people are being arrested, held in custody and prosecuted. By ignoring this order they are endangering the property of others and the lives of our emergency personnel. Again, if required to evacuate please, for the sake of our families, friends, firefighters, and first responders, leave immediately.

Price Gouging

The vast, vast, vast majority of our local merchants are really doing an incredible job in supporting our community and those brave firefighters and first responders who are fighting this fire and doing their best to keep us safe. Unfortunately, sometimes less scrupulous people may see such an emergency as an opportunity to take advantage of others. It is a misdemeanor, under Section 396 of the Penal Code, to raise the price of many consumer goods and services by more than 10 percent during a state of emergency such as we are experiencing here in Plumas County. More details concerning California’s state of emergency protection laws can be found at https://oag.ca.gov/consumers/pricegougingduringdisasters.

If you encounter a Plumas County business engaging in price gouging during this emergency, please call the District Attorney’s Office as 530-283-6303 and ask for the Investigations Division so we might make sure all of our consumers are being protected during this difficult time.

Criminal Investigation into the Dixie Fire

We are continuing to investigate the origin of the Dixie Fire and appreciate the assistance from many of our public safety partners – especially our Sheriff’s Office and the Butte County District Attorney’s Office. This investigation may be time-consuming but will be thorough and exacting in determining whether a crime has been committed and who is responsible for that crime. We will get this investigation done and done as quickly as possible. However, and at the present time, the priority has to be keeping Plumas County safe, getting this fire out and recovering from the damage done. At this stage I am not able to provide any greater detail concerning the Dixie Fire criminal investigation but will do so as soon as I am able.