Southern California Edison (SCE), a subsidiary of Edison International, is facing a growing legal battle as multiple lawsuits claim the utility’s electrical equipment ignited one of the major wildfires currently ravaging the Los Angeles area, Reuters reports.
The lawsuits, filed on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, represent what is likely to be the first wave of legal action from homeowners, renters, business owners, and others whose properties were destroyed by the devastating Eaton Fire in the Pasadena area.
The Eaton Fire, which has scorched over 14,000 acres, making it the second-most destructive wildfire in California history according to one complaint, is just one of several blazes that have swept through Southern California since last Tuesday. Tragically, at least 24 lives have been lost, and more than 90,000 residents have been displaced by the infernos. Dozens more are still reported missing.
The lawsuits allege that SCE’s equipment was the source of the ignition, with one complaint specifically citing multiple eyewitness accounts of a fire erupting at the base of a Southern California Edison transmission tower. Brendan Thorn, interviewed by local ABC News, further corroborated the claims, stating he observed “knee-high” fires near transmission towers soon after the fire’s outbreak.
While Southern California Edison has yet to directly comment on the pending litigation, Edison International’s CEO sai in a Monday morning television interview that the company was investigating the fires and, at that point, had not identified any electrical anomalies associated with its equipment around the time the Eaton fire erupted.
Despite this statement, the financial impact on the company is already significant. Edison International’s shares have plummeted nearly 12% on Monday and are down roughly 27% since the fires ignited last week.
Notably, Southern California Edison filed safety incident reports on the Eaton and Hurst fires on January 9 and 10, respectively. The company said that it had received notices from insurance companies to preserve evidence related to the Eaton fire, citing a potential link to its facilities which prompted them to release the January 9 report. While they initially claimed that no fire agency had suggested their facilities were involved in the ignition, a day later in the Hurst report, the company noted the presence of a downed conductor in the area. However, they said they were unable to determine if the damage occurred before or after the fire began.
The lawsuits against Southern California Edison are expected to be the first of many as the full extent of the wildfire damage is realized.
