SoCal Edison blamed in a lawsuit for starting one of the Los Angeles fires
CNN
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Southern California Edison, the electrical utility for Los Angeles, has been sued for its alleged role in starting one of the raging Los Angeles fires that have collectively killed at least 24 people and displaced tens of thousands.
Jeremy Gursey, whose house in the Altadena neighborhood was destroyed in the Eaton Fire, claimed in a lawsuit filed in LA County Superior Court Monday SCE was responsible for starting the fire, an allegation SCE has repeatedly denied. Local officials also said Monday they still have not determined the cause of the fires, although they are investigating an electrical transmission tower in Eaton Canyon as the possible origin site of the Eaton Fire, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Gursey cited as evidence photographs taken by Altadena residents Jennifer Errico and Marcus Errico, who at around 6:15 p.m. on January 7 captured a small blaze underneath transmission lines running through Eaton Canyon. The Erricos on Friday told CNN's Anderson Cooper they had spotted the start of the Eaton fire.
"I saw a glow in the hillside right above our house," Marcus Errico told CNN on Friday. "And as I got closer, I could see right across from us on the hillside in Eaton Canyon, there are a series of transformer towers with power lines stretching up into the mountains. And at the base of one, there was just a small ring of flames around the whole base."
Notably, Errico said he was unsure whether SCE was responsible for the blaze.
"I can't say definitively that it was the power lines that caused it," Errico told CNN. "But I can say definitively that the first fire in Pasadena and Altadena, Eaton Canyon is right on the edge of Altadena and Pasadena, that's where the fire began. It was under that tower on Tuesday night. It was - it began as a small little blaze underneath and within 10 minutes, the whole hillside was engulfed in the fire."
SCE in a statement Sunday said a review of circuits and transmission lines in the Eaton Canyon area showed its electrical equipment was unlikely to have caused the fire.
"That analysis shows no interruptions or operational/electrical anomalies in the 12 hours prior to the fire's reported start time until more than one hour after the reported start time of the fire," the utility said.
SCE did not respond to a request for comment Monday on the lawsuit. Shares of SCE's parent company, Edison International, (EIX) fell 10% Monday and are down 30% over the past week as investors fear the company may bear some financial responsibility for the fires.
Other utilities that have been found liable have paid high costs: Pacific Gas and Electric, California's largest utility, filed bankruptcy in 2019 after it was linked to a series of wildfires in California. And a group of companies that included Hawaiian Electric settled for $4 billion with residents for the businesses' role in the 2023 Lahaina fire.
Richard Bridgford, partner at Bridgford, Gleason & Artinian, who represents Gursey in the lawsuit filed Monday, said the evidence pointing to SCE is growing.
"They stated that the distribution lines to the east of Eaton Canyon would be energized," Bridgford said in an interview with CNN. "We happen to know the ignition point is directly below their line. We believe based upon the video evidence and based upon extensive discussion with our experts they will be found to have started the fire."
Bridgford said the company failure to de-energize its overhead wires despite a red flag wind warning issued by the National Weather Service makes SCE a likely culprit in the fire. Although he noted there is no hard evidence yet, he said he believes "there's always going to be more evidence coming."
Although Gursey's lawsuit is the first against the electrical utility, it is almost certainly not the last. Bridgford has represented tens of thousands of wildfire victims in the past and said this lawsuit is just the start.
"We have quite a few more lined up," he said.
