Palisades Fire's Origin Was Covered Up By LADWP, Lawsuit Claims: Report

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA — A lawsuit filed this week claims the deadly and destructive Palisades Fire was caused, in part, by a downed power line — and that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power tried for months to cover that up, according to a report.

The lawsuit, filed by attorney Alexander Robertson, claims the downed power lines created a secondary point of ignition after the fire had already broke out. The suit claims lines had fallen from wooden poles that snapped in the hurricane-force winds, the Orange County Register reported.

Robertson claims DWP officials told the Washington Post days after the fire began on Jan. 7 that the power line in question was not energized and had not been for five years. But then the utility on March 20 claimed the line was indeed active, according to the report.

“This was a monumental cover-up by LADWP to conceal from the public that its electrical equipment was the source of several additional ignitions of the Palisades Fire,” the complaint reads.

A DWP spokesperson told the OC Register that the line in question was energized on the day of the fire, but was deenergized before the time the lawsuit alleges it ignited brush.

• Read more: Elite Fire Investigation Team Called In To Determine Palisades Fire's Origin

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is investigating the cause of the fire and has not yet made a public determination of its origin.