County Sues SCE Over Deadly Eaton Fire

PASADENA, CA — Los Angeles County and the city of Pasadena sued California Edison Wednesday, accusing the utility giant of starting the Eaton Fire that destroyed nearly 9,500 buildings and killed 17 people.

According to the complaint, the fire is estimated to have cost the county hundreds of thousands of dollars from firefighting, recovery efforts and the loss of community buildings and the nature center. SCE is facing enormous scrutiny over its decision not to de-energize power lines in wind-prone canyons and foothills amid a powerful once-a-decade Santa Ana windstorm.

"The county's complaint against SCE alleges that witnesses, photos, and videos indicate the fire started directly under SCE transmission lines in Eaton Canyon," county officials wrote in a statement released Wednesday. "After the fire started, SCE informed the California Public Utilities Commission that a `fault' occurred on its transmission line around the time the fire started. On February 6, SCE sent a letter to the CPUC stating that photographic evidence of its tower at the end of the idle Mesa-Sylmar transmission line shows signs of potential arcing and damage on the grounding equipment for two of the three idle conductors.

"The lawsuit alleges that the Eaton Fire has massively impacted the County’s natural resources, harmed the environment and wildlife, and threatened public health. The complaint alleges that while the County’s costs and damages from the Eaton Fire and its aftermath are still being determined and could increase over time based on many factors, it is estimated that they will total at least hundreds of millions of dollars."

Altadena, the community hardest hit by the fire is an unincorporated community under county jurisdiction. The city of Pasadena's complaint similarly seeks to recoup losses caused to the city by the fire.

"The destruction of public facilities essential to Pasadena's operations requires significant investment to restore and rebuild," Lisa Derderian, the city's spokesperson said. "While our restoration efforts continue, we have a responsibility to pursue appropriate compensation for the costs of rebuilding the public infrastructure our community relies upon."

The lawsuits are the latest in a series filed against SCE by Eaton Fire victims. Even as homes still smoldered, evidence circulated, seeming to point to the fire starting at utility lines crossing Eaton Canyon. An official cause of the fire has not been determined yet.

One group enlisted the help of advocate Erin Brockovich as part of its effort to make the utility pay billions.

"This didn't have to happen," Brockovich said at a January press conference in Pasadena. "We've been over it, and over it, and over it — this is utilities' antiquated, failed infrastructure. Everybody in California, including the utilities, you know about the Santa Ana winds, you know about the fire conditions, you know where the problems are on your (electrical) line."

A gas station surveillance video published by The New York Times revealed flashes of light followed by flames near electrical towers in Eaton Canyon, just minutes before the devastating Eaton Fire was reported.

The flashes, recorded by the surveillance camera at 6:11 p.m. Jan. 7, align with accounts from area residents. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.The power lines carried by the towers were exposed to up to 100 mph winds the night the fire started.

SEE ALSO:

• Video Reveals New Details About Eaton Fire's Possible Origins: NYT
• SCE Concedes Its Equipment May Have Sparked LA Fire
• 'Conclusive Proof' Of Eaton Fire's Origins Will Cost SCE Billions, Attorneys Claim

"Information and data have come to light, such as videos from external parties of the fire’s early stages, suggesting a possible link to SCE’s equipment, which the company takes seriously. SCE has not identified typical or obvious indications that would support this association, such as broken conductors, fresh arc marks in the preliminary origin area, or evidence of faults on the energized lines running through that area," the company announced last month in a written statement.

“We’re not seeing any electrical anomaly until more than an hour after the reported start time of the fire,” Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, Southern California Edison’s parent company, said earlier in January.

"While we do not yet know what caused the Eaton wildfire, SCE is exploring every possibility in its investigation, including the possibility that SCE's equipment was involved," he added in a statement last month. "We have been fully engaged since the start of the fires in supporting the broader emergency response, containment, recovery and investigation efforts."

City News Service and Patch Staffers Anna Schier and Chris Lindahl contributed to this report.