Dive Brief:
- The County of Los Angeles filed suit Wednesday against Southern California Edison and Edison International, the utility's parent company, alleging that the utility's transmission towers sparked last month's Eaton wildfire in Altadena, an unincorporated suburb of Los Angeles.
- The suit alleges that the fire caused “hundreds of millions of dollars” in damages to the county's physical properties. The suit seeks compensation for the loss of recreational areas, parks, roads, and other county infrastructure, as well as for worker's compensation claims, employee overtime, lost taxes, cleanup and recovery costs and more, according to a statement from the LA County Office of County Counsel.
- The lawsuit is critical to the county's reconstruction efforts, according to the statement. SCE holds that the cause of the fire remains unknown pending an ongoing investigation.
Dive Insight:
SCE believes it will take 12-18 months to determine the cause of the 14,000-acre Eaton Fire, but LA County and other southern California municipalities aren't inclined to wait.
LA County's Office of County Counsel filed suit against the utility and its parent company on Wednesday, alleging that video footage, photographs, and witness statements provide “clear evidence” that the fire was caused by SCE's electrical equipment. The suit alleges that SCE acted negligently when it failed to de-energize all of its electrical circuits during the red flag warning that preceded the Eaton Fire.
The national Weather Service had issued multiple warnings regarding a “life threatening and destructive windstorm” prior to the fire's January 7 ignition, according to the county's complaint. But SCE did not de-energize all of its electrical equipment during the event, and at approximately 6:11 p.m. — nearly the same time that the Eaton Fire is believed to have started — the utility detected a fault on its Eagle-Rock-Gould transmission tower that increased the current on two transmission towers in the area where the Eaton Fire originated, according to the complaint.
The fire destroyed or significantly damaged numerous county properties, including the Davies Community Center, the Altadena Senior Center, the Eaton Wash Dam, and multiple parks and recreational areas, according to the complaint. Although estimates of the fire's total cost are still in the works, the complaint says damages documented so far have reached “hundreds of millions of dollars,” making it the second most destructive and fifth deadliest fire in California history.
The cities of Sierra Madre and Pasadena also filed suit against SCE on Wednesday, alleging similar damages to public properties owned by those municipalities.
“The destruction of public facilities essential to Pasadena’s operations requires significant investment to restore and rebuild,” said Lisa Derderian, Public Information Officer for the City of Pasadena. “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.”
Beside damage to public properties, the affected communities also lost multiple churches, a Jewish temple, a mosque, local businesses and homes, resulting in the displacement of tens of thousands of residents, according to the LA County complaint. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection estimates that the fire destroyed 9,400 structure and damaged a thousand others. It attributes 17 fatalities to the blaze.
A spokesperson for SCE reiterated on Wednesday the company's position that the cause of the fire remains unknown.
“Our hearts are with the communities affected by the wildfires in Southern California, and we are reviewing the recently filed lawsuits and will address them through the appropriate legal processes,” she said. In general, she said, “these investigations take time, and we are reviewing all available information to determine the potential causes, including whether our equipment could be related. However I want to be very clear that the cause of the Eaton Fire remains under investigation, and this investigation is still in its early stages.”
