A sugar pine seedling grows within the Archie Creek Fire scar in the Umpqua River basin. Seedlings are planted in the early spring so they are not damaged by hot and dry summer weather.

PORTLAND — Electricity utility PacifiCorp will pay $299 million to settle a lawsuit brought by about 220 customers who were harmed by 2020’s devastating wildfires in southern Oregon.

The settlement announced Tuesday comes after the utility lost a similar lawsuit in June for wildfires in other parts of the state, The Oregonian reported. The settlement means the utility will avoid the risk of trial and being ordered to pay additional damages.

The utility has faced several lawsuits from property owners and residents who say PacifiCorp negligently failed to shut off power to its 600,000 customers during a windstorm over Labor Day weekend in 2020, despite warnings from state leaders and top fire officials, and that its power lines caused multiple blazes.

The fires were among the worst natural disasters in Oregon’s history. They killed nine people, burned more than 1,875 square miles and destroyed upward of 5,000 homes and other structures.

The settlement ends three years of legal wrangling with victims of the Archie Creek fire, which devastated communities along the North Umpqua River east of Roseburg. It is for a much smaller amount than the damages awarded by a jury in June to a different group of homeowners in connection with four other fires that broke out around the state.

In the June case, the jury ordered PacifiCorp to pay more than $70 million to 17 homeowners, with additional damages to be determined later for a broader group of victims that could include the owners of about 2,500 properties. That award came on top of an earlier verdict expected to amount to billions of dollars.

PacifiCorp vowed to appeal the June verdict, and more trials are set for next year to determine damages for additional plaintiffs in the case.