January 13, 2025 | Wildfire News Updates
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A lawsuit filed Monday against Southern California Edison claims the utility’s equipment sparked the deadly Eaton Fire burning just outside Los Angeles and Edison has acknowledged fire agencies are investigating whether its equipment may have started a smaller LA-area fire that broke out the same day.
Edison said in a filing with the California Public Utilities Commission that “a downed conductor was discovered at a tower” near the start of the Hurst Fire that broke out in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Sylmar. But the utility added it “does not know whether the damage observed occurred before or after the start of the fire.” That fire burned more than a square mile and is now mostly contained.
Authorities haven’t determined an official cause for either fire. Wildfires that began last Tuesday amid hurricane-force winds have killed at least 24 people across the Los Angeles area.
Firefighters are still battling to contain the Eaton Fire that broke out near Pasadena, destroying at least 7,000 homes and other structures and laying waste to entire neighborhoods. Attorneys representing a homeowner who lost their home said Monday that it is their belief that Edison’s equipment caused the fire. Video taken during the fire’s early minutes show a large blaze directly beneath electrical towers.
“There is clear evidence from video footage, photographs, and witness accounts that the fire was caused by electrical equipment operated by Defendants Edison International and Southern California Edison,” the complaint states.
Edison did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.
By JASON DEAREN, Associated Press Jan 13, 2025
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