Southern California Edison says it’s cooperating with investigations as some allege that its equipment ignited what became one of the most destructive fires in Los Angeles County history.
The accusations, which sparked lawsuits filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court last week, claim that negligence on the part of SCE led to the fire as equipment allegedly wasn’t properly secured or inspected as hurricane-force winds barreled toward the area.
Attorney Richard Bridgford, who represents a homeowner for one of the suits, said his firm’s own investigation has led them to believe that the fire was “ignited because of SCE’s failure to de-energize its overhead wires which traverse Eaton Canyon—despite a red flag [particularly dangerous situation] wind warning.”
In an interview with KTLA’s Annie Rose Ramos on Friday morning, SCE spokesperson David Eisenhauer said the company hasn’t been able to assess the area that the fire allegedly started at yet, but they are cooperating with investigators.
“It’s important to understand that the fire investigating agencies are still investigating the fire, so they haven’t announced a cause yet,” he said. “We are cooperating with them.”
Eisenhauer pushed back on allegations that the towers weren’t inspected regularly, saying that particular tower was inspected twice in 2024.
He added that the conditions the area were facing that day, despite wind gusts topping 60 miles per hour and low humidity, didn’t reach the “threshold” that would require SCE to shut down power lines.
“Our weather sensors in that area did not detect winds that reached the criteria to shut off those lines,” Eisenhauer said, adding that SCE is looking into the possibility that the sensors were wrong.
While the lawsuits allege that SCE was responsible and an investigation is opened, no fire agencies have publicly stated a cause for the Eaton Fire.
Travis Schlepp contributed to this report.
Southern California Edison says it’s cooperating with investigations as some allege that its equipment ignited what became one of the most destructive fires in Los Angeles County history. The accusations, which sparked lawsuits filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court last week, claim that negligence on the part of SCE led to the fire […]