Two lawsuits filed Monday against Southern California Edison allege the utility failed to de-energize its electrical equipment or clear brush where a fire broke out near Pasadena, one of a cascade of wildfires currently burning in the Los Angeles area. , driven by strong winds.
Separate complaints were filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of people whose homes and personal property were destroyed in the Eaton Fire. They come as investigators continue to determine the cause and origin of multiple fires that started nearly a week ago.
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The Eaton Fire, which burned more than 14,110 acres and destroyed more than 7,000 structures, remained about one-third contained, fire officials said Monday. The fire was reported at 6:18 pm on Tuesday, when wind gusts near 100 mph hit the region.
Although there is no official cause, the lawsuits maintain that there is evidence pointing to Southern California Edison’s inaction. The utility, however, has told state utility regulators that firefighters have not suggested that its electrical facilities played a role in igniting the fire.
Southern California Edison spokesperson Gabriela Ornelas told NBC News: “Our hearts remain with our communities during the devastating fires in Southern California and we remain committed to supporting them through this difficult time.”
“SCE teams, contractors and mutual aid partners are dedicated to safely restoring power to our customers. SCE understands that a lawsuit has been filed related to the Eaton fire, but a complaint has not yet been filed. SCE will review the complaint when it is received. “The cause of the fire remains under investigation.”
Patrick McNicholas, one of the attorneys representing an evacuee named Michael Kreiner, said a legal team met with more than 500 people affected by the fire and that the lawsuit’s plaintiffs are individuals and entities, including renters, who live in Los Angeles County.
“We are committed to holding Southern California Edison accountable for its alleged negligence and seeking justice for victims who have lost their homes, livelihoods and loved ones,” McNicholas said in a statement.
Another lawsuit was filed on behalf of a veteran FedEx employee named Evangeline Iglesias, who says her Altadena home was destroyed “along with a lifetime of possessions.” She accuses Southern California Edison of negligence, premises liability and public utility code violations.
The lawsuit alleges that the utility should have known the dangers based on forecasts of potentially catastrophic Santa Ana winds several days before they hit Los Angeles, fueling the massive Palisades Fire, the largest of the wildfires. At least 24 people have died in the fires.
The lawsuit says video footage, photographs and local accounts suggest that electrical infrastructure operated by the utility sparked the fire in the Eaton Canyon area.
Despite “clear and repeated warnings,” the company “failed to de-energize all of its electrical equipment in the area that day,” the lawsuit says.
In the hours before the first report of a fire, the complaint adds, “data shows that there were more than 300 failures” on Southern California Edison lines in the vicinity of the fire’s origin.
“Failures” refer to cases where a power line may have come into contact with a tree branch or other debris, causing a spark.
The lawsuit cited information from Bob Marshall, CEO of Whisker Labs, a company that analyzes power grid data, that there was a “significant increase” in failures in the hours before the fires.
Marshall told NBC News that while it’s too early to know what caused these fires, his company’s data shows evidence of many power failures in areas near the fires, including Eaton Canyon, likely caused by trees hitting power lines. . He also said homes and communities in the vicinity of where the fires started still had power.
“That means the distribution lines bringing power to those communities were energized everywhere, so a full public safety power shutoff program was not implemented to shut off power and prevent sparks on the grid.” Marshall said.
In a statement a day after the Eaton fire began, Southern California Edison noted that through the program, power is turned off during dangerous weather conditions, specifically to prevent wildfires.
The utility said its “distribution lines immediately west of Eaton Canyon lost power well before the reported fire start time.”
On Sunday, the utility said it filed two electrical safety incident reports with the California Public Utilities Commission related to the current wildfires, including one for the Eaton Fire and another for the Hurst Fire, which has burned nearly 800 acres in the Sylmar neighborhood of Los Angeles. .
The reports contain preliminary information and are provided “within two to four hours after a triggering event.” They often occur before the utility “can determine whether its electrical facilities are associated with a fire,” Southern California Edison said.
Additionally, the utility said, it had received evidence preservation notices from attorneys representing insurance companies in connection with the fire.
The utility also said a preliminary analysis of electrical circuit information for its four energized transmission lines in the Eaton Canyon area showed there were no electrical outages or anomalies in the 12 hours prior to the reported start time of the fire and more than an hour after the fire started. .
One of the lawsuits says the utility’s electrical equipment was responsible for the 2017 Thomas Fire and the 2018 Woolsey Fire, “both of which destroyed thousands of homes, caused billions of dollars in damage, and displaced thousands of people.” families.”
Financial analysts at Wells Fargo Securities estimated Monday that the latest Los Angeles County wildfires could represent about $30 billion in insured losses, about 85% of which involve homeowners.
