Judge rips PG&E for poor safety record leading to wildfires

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) A federal judge says executives for a California utility blamed for huge wildfires in recent years have put greed before safety.

The judge told Pacific Gas & Electric at a hearing Wednesday that it should plan to have at least 1,100 more tree trimmers to reduce the chances of causing even more devastation.

The harsh rebuke came in a hearing as part of PG&E's criminal probation imposed after its natural gas lines blew up a San Francisco Bay Area neighborhood and killed eight people in 2010. Since its probation began three years ago, poorly maintained power lines have been blamed for igniting wildfires that killed nearly 130 people.