LA County sues Southern California Edison over Eaton Canyon wildfire

LOS ANGELES (CN) — Los Angeles County filed a lawsuit Wednesday against regional utility giant Southern California Edison over the utility’s role in the outbreak of the Eaton Fire, which killed 17 people and destroyed nearly all of Altadena in January.

“The Eaton Fire began when electrical equipment within Edison’s utility infrastructure contacted, or caused sparks to contact, surrounding vegetation,” the county says in its complaint, citing “clear evidence from video footage, photographs and witness statements.”

The complaint, filed in LA Superior Court, includes claims that Edison negligently failed to maintain and inspect its equipment or to maintain the vegetation around it, as regulations dictate. “Edison failed to de-energize its electrical circuit(s) to prevent a catastrophic wildfire during the high wind event and Red Flag Warning that preceded the Eaton Fire,” the county says in its complaint.

More than 40 lawsuits have been filed against SoCal Edison so far, mostly by residents, with many more expected, including from the cities of Pasadena and Sierra Madre. The complaints will likely be consolidated into one large case.

“Our hearts are with the communities affected by the wildfires in Southern California,” said a spokesperson for Southern California Edison. “We are reviewing the lawsuits that were recently filed, and will address them through the appropriate legal process.”

The Eaton Fire is the fifth deadliest and second most destructive fire in California history, having destroyed more than 9,000 buildings and consuming more than 14,000 acres. It erupted on the same day as the Palisades Fire, on the opposite end of LA County. That fire killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 buildings, including the Pacific Palisades, one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the city.

Both fires were fueled by overgrown vegetation following a year of heavy rain, followed by exceptionally dry conditions. Hurricane-force Santa Ana winds, warned about for days, played a key role in both starting and spreading the two blazes. The cause of the Palisades Fire is still under investigation. Some have blamed fireworks; others say a spark from a smaller blaze started it.

The cause of the Eaton Fire has also not been officially determined, though many have pointed the finger at SoCal Edison. And even the utility has acknowledged, in a recent public filing with the California Public Utilities Commission, that a “fault” was detected in its transmission circuit at approximately 6:11 p.m., around when the fire started. The fault caused an “increase in current on Edison’s transmission system, including on the four energized lines on M6T1 and M24T3,” according to the filing. Those two transmission towers are in the area where the Eaton Fire originated.

One of the law firms suing SoCal Edison, Edelson PC, has postedvideo footage from a security camera at a gas station, purporting to show “electrical arcs and sparking” at the transmission towers shortly before the fire broke out.

The costs of the fire to the county are still being determined. In its complaint, the county said those damages, which it will seek from Edison, include firefighting costs, destroyed infrastructure, cleanup and recovery efforts, overtime for county workers, lost taxes and more. A lawyer for the county said the total will be at least in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

“We are committed to seeking justice for the Altadena community and the taxpayers of Los Angeles County,” county counsel Dawyn Harrison said in a statement.

The county has sued SoCal Edison two other times, both over its role in wildfires, and both ended in settlements. Edison agreed to pay the county $63 million for its role in the 2018 Woolsey Fire, and $80 million for the Bobcat Fire in 2020.

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