SAN DIEGO -- San Diego Gas & Electric will pay the state $14.3 million for investigations into the 2007 Witch Creek, Rice Canyon and Guejito fires in San Diego County, it was announced Friday.

The settlement agreement was jointly filed by SDG&E and the Consumer Protection and Safety Division of the California Public Utilities Commission.

CPSD determined that SDG&E's overhead conductors contacted each other during Santa Ana wind conditions, starting what was known as the Witch Fire on Oct. 21, 2007.

CPSD also found that on Oct. 22, 2007, a sycamore tree limb broke and fell on SDG&E's overhead conductors, causing the conductors to break and fall to the ground, resulting in the blaze known as the Rice Fire.

The same day, a Cox Communications lashing wire contacted SDG&E's conductor, causing the Guejito Fire, according to the CPSD.

According to a CPSD report issued on Sept. 2, 2008, regarding all of the fires, which killed two people and destroyed more than 1,300 North County homes, SDG&E failed to cooperate with its investigation as required by law.

Debra L. Reed, president and chief executive officer of SDG&E, said the agreement "resolves our dispute with the CPUC fire investigations covering all three 2007 wildfires in San Diego County. We are settling this matter to put the issue behind us and avoid the costs and risks of further litigation."

"As part of this settlement, we maintain that our system met all compliance and safety requirements, but we fell short in meeting our obligations with respect to three follow-up reports," she said in a prepared statement.

"In addition to continuing to implement our Community Fire Safety Program to improve power line safety and reduce the risk of fires in extreme fire weather conditions, we have agreed to implement a variety of additional remedial measures for fire-related safety improvements on our system," she said.

"Our goal always has been to reduce the potential for any more catastrophic fires in our region, and we will work with key stakeholders in the community to achieve this goal."

Within 60 days of approval, SDG&E will pay $14.3 million to the General Fund of the state of California.

On June 26, SDG&E agreed to pay insurance companies $686 million for reimbursement of funds paid to policyholders who had losses due to the three fires.