A new video analysis by a coalition of attorneys investigating the Eaton fire appears to show molten material falling from an idle tower conductor into dry brush below — more evidence that Southern California Edison equipment sparked the monstrous blaze in January.
The new evidence, presented by LA Fire Justice at a town hall meeting Thursday, April 17, bolstered the theory that a tower — deenergized more than 50 years ago — became active in the hurricane-force winds and triggered the fire that destroyed nearly 7,000 structures in Altadena and killed 18 people.
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Edison International Chief Executive Pedro Pizarro recently told the Los Angeles Times that the tower may have become reenergized through a phenomenon called “induction,” in which the electromagnetic field of a nearby active line reenergizes an idle line. That has become a leading theory in SCE’s investigation into the cause of the fire, Pizarro said.
At Thursday’s town hall, attorney Mikal Watts said there can be no doubt the idle line, built 102 years ago, was the culprit and should have been better maintained or removed.
“If you’re not going to take it away, at least don’t leave it as an electrical pile of junk that causes hazards,” Watts said. “Full stop. Southern California Edison burned your house down. Full stop. Southern California Edison burned your town down.”
SCE spokesman David Eisenhauer responded Friday that any video or information related to the cause of the Eaton fire must be carefully analyzed, and it would be premature to comment until that is done.
The analyzed video came from a camera system at a nearby Arco station the night the fire began. The idle line in question is the Mesa-Sylmar line, which was taken out of commission after it was damaged in an earthquake in 1971. Most of the towers on the circuit were disassembled by Southern California Edison, but the 19 towers known as towers 208-227 were left standing for no reason, said a news release from LA Fire Justice.
Watts said in an interview that the fire could have been ignited by the molten debris falling from Tower 208 and/or by a ground wire at the bottom of that tower that was exposed to the brush.
“This did not happen because of bad luck,” Watts said. “It happened because of neglect, because of foreseeable hazards that were not mitigated by this utility.”
The notion that an inactive power line can come back to start a fire is not without precedence. The giant Kincade fire in Sonoma County in 2019 began on an abandoned line, resulting in a $40 million fine against Pacific Gas & Electric, said LA Fire Justice.
The new evidence comes as SCE is getting ready to begin on Monday taking down the deactivated transmission lines in preparation to remove two idle towers in the Mesa-Sylmar line. The tower that has generated the most attention is Tower 208, the shorter of three towers where the fire is believed to have originated in Eaton Canyon.
That tower and another further along the Mesa-Sylmar line are expected to be disassembled beginning April 30. Helicopters will be used to fly parts of the towers to designated areas.
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The equipment will be analyzed by SCE in collaboration with attorneys who have filed more than 130 lawsuits blaming the utility for the blaze. SCE investigators already have spent weeks climbing and photographing three Eaton Canyon towers at the suspected point of origin as part of the analysis. A separate county and state investigation is ongoing.
The lawsuits contend that sparks from the lines or current from an exposed grounding wire made contact with the brush. They also criticize SCE for not deenergizing all the power lines in Eaton Canyon after the utility was warned days ahead that powerful winds were coming.
SCE has said it is conducting a “comprehensive review” of the data collected from the system, in coordination with third-party experts, and “will move forward as quickly as possible in analyzing results.”
