Feds say Southern California Edison started Eaton fire, sue for damages

The U.S. Department of Justice this week sued Southern California Edison, alleging the utility’s equipment caused the deadly Eaton Fire that swept through Los Angeles County in January. An official cause of the fire has not yet been released.

Its civil lawsuit is seeking reimbursement for the costs of containing the fire and rehabilitating 8,000 burned acres of Angeles National Forest. 

“SCE knew about the potential danger posed by the high wind event and the risks posed by power and transmission lines but failed to take action to prevent it from igniting a fire,” the lawsuit said.

Putting out the fire, the department said in the lawsuit, cost more than $40 million, and the damage will require substantial effort to rehabilitate.

As support for its claim that the fire was caused by utility equipment, the Justice Department cited public statements made by Pedro Pizarro, CEO of the utility’s parent company, including a January statement where Pizarro said that without more evidence, “we believe that SCE equipment could have been associated with the ignition.”

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Los Angeles County Fire Department are still investigating the official cause of the fire. But Edison has said its transmission lines at Eaton Canyon had an increase in electrical current when the fire began and that one idle line may have been reenergized. The Los Angeles Times reported that the utility changed its policy on how such structures are grounded after the fire. Before, grounding procedures were decided by engineers on a case by case basis; after, they were laid out based on the type of equipment and the material the equipment is made of. 

The Justice Department also filed a second lawsuit against the company over the 2022 Fairview fire, similarly asserting Southern California Edison was responsible.

“We’re reviewing these lawsuits and we’ll respond through the appropriate legal channels,” Southern California Edison spokesperson Kathleen Dunleavy said. “Edison continues our work to reduce the likelihood of SCE’s equipment from starting a wildfire.”

The federal lawsuit comes weeks after Southern California Edison announced a voluntary program that will allow those affected by the fire to submit a claim for a more expedient payout in an effort to curb lawsuits, according to its website, many of which have already been filed against the utility. Victims of the fire saw this as a way to short larger payouts.

“The Justice Department’s lawsuits demonstrate Southern California Edison’s willingness to endanger California families through an unconscionable pattern of negligence,” Kiley Grombacher, co-founder of the California Fire Victims Law Center. “The pattern has cost lives, destroyed homes, and left entire communities contaminated.