Court filing accuses Southern California Edison of tampering with possible Eaton fire evidence
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Attorneys representing several Altadena residents who lost homes in the Eaton fire are asking a judge to sanction Southern California Edison, alleging that, by secretly re-energizing transmission lines, the utility may have altered key evidence showing how the deadly fire started.
“SCE altered the very transmission lines in Eaton Canyon that SCE repeatedly promised not to touch,” reads a motion filed late Monday by the law firm Edelson PC, which accuses the company of failing to disclose its decision to re-energize the lines despite knowing a temporary restraining order that would require it to preserve potential evidence was pending in court.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Edison disputed the law firm’s claim, arguing the utility had in fact notified attorneys before it re-energized its equipment and before the court ruled on the restraining order.
“It continues to be disheartening to see these false accusations being spread in the media,” said Kathleen Dunleavy. “We have and will continue to preserve relevant evidence.”
But for attorneys suing the utility, what happened during that re-energization on Jan. 19, nearly two weeks after the Eaton fire began — as well as whether the company kept its actions secret — is crucial. And the dispute has only ratcheted up tensions as the investigation and litigation around the fire run on parallel tracks.
After the Eaton fire began Jan. 7, Edison de-energized the transmission lines in Eaton Canyon. Though it re-energized them a few days later, they were powered down again on Jan. 12.
The next day, several Altadena homeowners sued Edison for its alleged role in the fire. They also requested a court order for the company to preserve potential evidence as the investigation into the blaze’s start unfolded.
But on Jan. 17, attorneys representing Edison sent a letter to plaintiffs notifying them workers would be cleaning insulators in their towers to remove fire retardant. The letter also included a line that the transmission towers “must be re-energized as soon as possible to provide safe, reliable power to approximately 50,000 residents.”
“We did notify them with a notification about next steps,” Dunleavy said.
On Sunday, Jan. 19, two days before a judge would order the utility to preserve its equipment, Edison turned on the power to the transmission lines in Eaton Canyon and Eagle Rock-Gould line.
Company personnel sent out to observe how the equipment responded “observed a small flash of white light upon each re-energization,” according to a Feb. 6 letter from Edison to the California Public Utilities Commission.
The white flashes were seen on a transmission tower that carries the Mesa-Vincent and Goodrich-Gould lines, as well as a transmission structure that had been unused since 1971.
The concern for the Altadena homeowners is that the Jan. 19 re-energization event may have altered evidence pointing to Edison equipment sparking the fire, a concern their attorneys argue has merit.
That’s because the Jan. 19 re-energization and white flashes were not the first signs of irregularities on the transmission lines and towers in the canyon that have been flagged to state regulators, raising concerns electrical equipment may have played a role in the fire’s start. The company had also detected a fault the day of the fire on its Eagle Rock-Gould line, about five circuit miles from the suspected ignition point, which caused an increase of current across transmission lines.
Eaton and Palisades fires
The devastating fires killed at least 28 people, destroying and damaging more than 18,000 buildings valued at more than $275 billion and leaving a burn zone 2½ times the size of Manhattan.
“It is very disturbing that Edison secretly re-energized its transmission lines in the suspected area of origin,” said Alexander Robertson, an attorney whose firm, Robertson & Associates LLP, signed a letter sent to Edison, raising concerns about the lines that were reenergized. “It’s even more troubling that when Edison secretly re-energized those lines, they observed new arcing upon each re-energization but chose not to disclose this important information to the regulators, investigators or the public until 18 days later.”
The 14 firms that signed the letter are asking that SCE provide them with video, photographs, LiDAR and data about their monitoring results from the Jan. 19 white flashes that were observed, and of any other testing or monitoring that might have taken place.
