Power line may have sparked LA wildfire, lawsuits allege

Power line may have sparked LA wildfire, lawsuits allege

By Justine Calma, a senior science reporter covering energy and the environment with more than a decade of experience. She is also the host of Hell or High Water: When Disaster Hits Home, a podcast from Vox Media and Audible Originals.

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A general view of destroyed houses in a neighborhood that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire which remains without electricity or water on January 12, 2025 in Altadena, California.  Photo by David McNew/Getty Images

As wildfires across Los Angeles continued to burn, some residents are already starting to point fingers at the local power utility as the culprit. Southern California Edison is facing multiple lawsuits alleging the company is responsible for the deadly Eaton fire that nearly leveled Altadena.

While officials continue to investigate the cause of the fire, at least four suits allege that SCE failed to de-energize power lines, the Los Angeles Times reports. A lawyer for one of the plaintiffs said they filed suit early in an effort to preserve evidence.

“We have video, we have photographs, we have eyewitness accounts.”

Utilities have faced a string of lawsuits in recent years in the wake of devastating wildfires, typically over power lines sparking blazes. SCE alone has had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements for at least seven previous blazes, according to NPR.

“We have video, we have photographs, we have eyewitness accounts, not just from our clients but other residents that were there and alleged to have seen sparking, to have seen arcing occurring on those lines that subsequently triggered a fire,” Ali Moghaddas, an attorney representing an Altadena resident who lost her home, told NBC.

“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 spokesperson Jeff Monford told the Los Angeles Times yesterday, adding that the utility still needed to review the complaint. The company claimed last week that power lines near Eaton Canyon “were de-energized well before the reported start time of the fire” as a preventative measure.

At least one suit cites data from Whisker Labs, a company that monitors power grids, that shows a “significant spike” in faults in the area just before the fire broke out. A fault happens when a power line brushes against vegetation, another line, or other materials — an event that can lead to sparks.

The Eaton fire was still only 35 percent contained as of Tuesday morning, and strong winds threaten to fan the flames in the coming days. Already, the blaze has scorched more than 14,000 acres and 7,000 structures. Eaton and other raging wildfires nearby have killed at least 2 dozen people over the past week.