PG&E workers Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) employees look at gas line maps in Paradise, California, on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. (Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)

A federal judge who has been critical of PG&E Corp.'s safety record said the utility has a "clear-cut pattern" of starting wildfires and needs "strong medicine" put in place before this year's season begins.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup is overseeing PG&E's probation for safety violations that led to felony convictions for the 2010 explosion of one of its gas pipelines, which killed eight people. He has proposed strict protocols for California's largest utility following a series of massive fires along its 125,000 miles of power lines over the past two years.

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