Strong winds pushed smoke to the Sacramento Valley, Bay Area, Nevada and Idaho.

Federal and state officials accused Sierra Pacific Industries of negligence in the hiring and supervision of a logging contractor.

[5] In 2009, the Department of Justice sued Sierra Pacific, the logging contractor, and smaller parties, seeking almost $800 million in damages.

Spooked by the precarious state of the lumber market at the time and the size of the sought-for damages, in 2012 Sierra Pacific and the other defendants entered into a voluntary settlement of $122.5 million.

Sierra Pacific admitted no wrongdoing through the settlement, and though it was voluntary, CFO Mark Emmerson told Forbes in a 2018 interview that they "had a gun to our head.

"[6] On October 9, 2014, Sierra Pacific and other defendants filed a motion in Federal Court to terminate the settlement on the grounds that the investigation and prosecution were flawed and corrupt.

In a unanimous opinion, the court ruled that all of Sierra Pacific's accusations were legally insufficient, because it "voluntarily settled instead of going to trial" and "bound [itself] not to seek future relief."