Eaton Fire Lawyer

April 15 is property owners' deadline to sign up for a debris clearance program ran by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers if they were affected by the Palisades or Eaton fires.

Insurance experts and government officials agree: anyone who is still weighing options should opt in and submit a form.

Opting in isn't binding - homeowners can later withdraw if they wish to go with a private contractor instead.

Army Corps contractors and engineers will walk through properties with homeowners prior to beginning to clear debris. Crews will generally remove almost everything in the area where debris settled following the fire. This includes standing structures like chimneys and walls, cars and burned appliances. Hardscaping like driveway segments and sidewalk pavers where debris and ash fell may also be removed.

Homeowners may request the Army Corp to remove foundations. Experts typically recommend having foundations removed since concrete can be weakened by high temperatures. Older foundations could also fail to get approved during the process of rebuilding due to changed building codes.

Up to six inches of soil will be scraped off of the burn area.

Trees which died or are at risk of dying within five years will be cut down, but stumps won't be removed. Homeowners can submit waivers to keep trees, but will have to acknowledge that by leaving the trees standing, it may impact their ability to rebuild or obtain permits.

Retaining walls needed to stabilize the neighborhood or property won't get removed.

Pools, most driveways, and sidewalks or patios outside the ash footprint won't be removed.

Homeowners will not pay out of pocket. Those who submit forms need to include insurance info. The county will work to recover money left in homeowner's insurance policies.

In other news, on April 11, Pedro Pizarro, Chief Executive of Edison International, said that "a leading hypothesis" as to how the Eaton Fire started is an unconnected, idle Southern California Edison (SCE) powerline somehow reenergizing.

As a response, SCE will harden other idle lines and towers to prevent reenergizing events. The hardening will include making changes in a maintenance manual, reviewing past inspections and conducting more field inspections.

The theory is that the line somehow reenergized due to a phenomenon known as induction, where a nearby active line's magnetic field induced electric current in the idle line.

Video has shown the fire's initial flames appear to get ignited underneath an idle tower.

SCE crews are climbing electrical towers, testing soil and photographing electrical equipment in order to determine what caused the Eaton Fire.

It will probably take months for the final determination as to what caused the fire to be made. However, SCE has been scrutinized since day 1 due to residents seeing and videotaping flames which burned near Edison transmission lines when the fire started on January 7.

One tower in particular, which has been idle for over 50 years yet somehow re-energized on January 7, has been focused upon.

Signs of damage including blackened marks on the tower suggest arcing occurred, according to a lawsuit.

According to officials, lab analysis, testing and inspections may take weeks. Analysis to figure out what caused the fire might take even longer.

Edison crews have traveled to the fire site via helicopter and climbed transmission towers to inspect equipment. Camera-equipped drones have been utilized by law firms investigating the fire's cause.

Experts have done soil resistivity testing which looks at how soil near the towers reacts to and absorbs electric current's flow.

Crews will be running small amounts of current through the lines to test them.

The investigation is being led by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection as well as the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Investigations like this can take one year or even longer.

In February, Edison said that SCE lines over Eaton Canyon experienced a temporary increase in electrical current around the same time the fire started.

On January 27, SCE said the Eagle Rock-Gould line experienced a fault which sent increased current through SCE transmission lines.

The Los Angeles Times has released a report questioning why Southern California Edison's equipment is sparking more fires lately despite the utility's customers paying more money for prevention of fires.

Last year saw Edison's equipment spark 178 fires - in 2015, the utility's equipment sparked 107 fires. This increase was despite the utility spending billions of dollars, including $1.9 billion in 2024, to prevent fires.

Residential customers of Edison pay an average of over $300 each year in support of costs which are wildfire-related.

The utility's spending on increased equipment inspections, weather stations, tree trimming and insulated wires accounts for about 15 percent of customers' average utility bills now - two years ago, these things accounted for about nine percent of utility bills.

The $1.9 billion dedicated to wildfire prevention last year was a 29 percent increase from the previous year. Each month sees $26 from the average customer's bill go towards wildfire prevention.

Many are claiming that Assembly Bill 1054, which was signed into state law in 2019, is a big reason why the increased spending isn't resulting in less wildfires. The law limited utilities' financial liability for wildfires caused by them. Some are claiming that utilities don't have as much of an incentive to prevent wildfires since they're able to shift the cost of wildfires to customers despite the fires being the utilities' fault.

AB 1054 reduced utility liability for wildfires started by their equipment. The bill changed the law in a way that companies are considered to have "prudently" acted so long as they obtained a safety certification each year from state regulators. Utilities need to pay $1 billion for wildfire insurance, but damages caused by wildfires started by their equipment which goes over $1 billion now gets covered by a California state fund which contained $12 billion in January and is expected to eventually contain $21 billion. While half of the fund's initial money came from utility shareholders, the other half is sourced from customer bills.

On February 27, Edison told Wall Street analysts that if it is found that Edison equipment was responsible for the Eaton Fire, the utility won't need to reimburse the wildfire fund for victims' claims unless "serious doubt" can be raised that the utility acted prudently. Edison said that even if that should occur, its liability would be capped by law at $3.9 billion.

On October 31, Edison was granted its yearly safety certificate despite numerous problems found with the utility's fire prevention work.

Regulators said Edison failed to consider rarer high-wind events in calculations regarding stopping fires caused by electrical equipment. Edison only looked at events involving high winds in the pats 20 years rather than during a longer period.

Regulators also found that there were thousands of open Edison work orders for fixing equipment issues.

Some are claiming that state officials who oversee utilities' fire prevention efforts have relaxed standards since AB 1054's adoption. State officials held public hearings regarding fire prevention efforts by utilities - this no longer occurs since AB 1054.

In March 2022, California's state auditor criticized the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety for giving out safety certificates to utility companies despite the utilities' wildfire prevention plans having serious deficiencies.

State auditors have blamed utility regulators for not making sure the utilities' wildfire prevention spending is effective.

Edison claims that its wildfire prevention work has reduced catastrophic wildfire risks by over 85 percent since 2017.

Around 14 hours prior to the Eaton Fire starting on January 7, power lines in the vicinity showed signs of being strained by intensifying winds.

Data from Whisker Labs, a company maintaining electrical sensors, is suggesting that Edison's transmission network was stressed well before severe winds hit the L.A. region, adding to intensifying criticism that Edison failed to do enough to stop the fire from happening.

The data suggests that electrical malfunctions known as faults occurred on Edison transmission lines at the times of 4:28 AM and 4:36 AM on January 7. This time period saw sustained wind speeds of 60 miles per hour as well as gusts up to 79 miles per hour.

Later that day, two faults were identified by Whisker mere minutes prior to the fire starting, at around 6:11 PM, on a transmission network in the area of Eaton Canyon. These faults matched transmission line flashes which were video recorded by an Arco gas station nearby.

Despite the faults in the early morning, Edison failed to cut power to its transmission lines in the area. Edison also failed to cut power to the lines after the second batch of faults while winds were reaching 100 miles per hour.

The faults were strong enough to be sensed by sensors in Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.

In other news, there is concern among public health officials that abandoned pools in the burn zone of the Eaton Fire could create breeding grounds leading to millions of mosquitos.

A single swimming pool can breed as much as one million mosquitos in one month. There are thousands of swimming pools in the area.

11 instances of dengue were reported by Los Angeles County last year, and mosquitos can also carry West Nile virus, which killed at least one person in Los Angeles County last year.

Homeowners can make arrangements to get their pools removed or drained via the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the group handling ongoing removal of debris.

San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District officials can also spray larvicide. When chemicals, debris or ash in water get cleared, fish which eat mosquitos can also be added to the pools.

The focus in the investigation into the cause of the Eaton Fire has narrowed to numerous parallel power lines which are owned by Southern California Edison and located just outside Altadena.

Company records which have been uncovered by the Los Angeles Times show that SCE knew that some towers near and at the probable ignition point posed fire hazards.

Records filed by the company show that towers supporting three lines which are now under suspicion had been considered possible ignition risks and long overdue for vital upkeep.

Two lines were active and a third line, said to have been built around 100 years ago, was decommissioned in 1971.

Edison data shows that SCE, as of December 31, 2024, had 94 open work orders regarding the three lines.

The orders regarded multiple tasks, such as clearing vegetation, fixing broken or damaged insulators, doing tower repairs and replacing loose connectors. Almost three dozen of these orders were related to ignition risks.

A June 2023 order regarding "weed abatement" referenced coordinated which pinpoint its location as being a tower where it is believed by some that the fire started.

The order was given Level 2 priority and should have been finished within six months, going by state regulations.

Another order was created six days later on a nearby tower for "structure brushing," or mitigating the risk that vegetation poses regarding fires.

Both of these orders got flagged as ignition risks and were open as of December 31.

Investigators believe the decommissioned line may have started the Eaton Fire. There were seven open work orders for work on that line's towers as of December 31.

2020 saw Edison report that over 90 percent of the company's transmission towers were 30 years old or older. 30 years old is the "average age" at which SCE said towers begin to show signs of being corroded. Corrosion can lead to problems including "structure failure."

Records as of December 31, 2022 show that SCE had over 20,200 work orders which were more than 180 days overdue, including over 5,200 relating to "ignition risk."

It is required by the Public Utilities Commission that utilities remove power lines which are "permanently abandoned" and are deemed not to have any foreseeable use so they don't become public nuisances or hazards to property or life.

An Altadena man's family has filed a lawsuit over the man's death in the Eaton Fire. The lawsuit has been filed against Southern California Edison and is now one of over 100 lawsuits which blames SCE's equipment for starting the devastating fire which killed 17 people and destroyed over 9,000 structures.

The lawsuit alleges that SCE operated its equipment recklessly, didn't properly maintain brush around its equipment, and didn't properly de-energize all equipment in the area of Eaton Canyon despite having advance warning from the National Weather Service of dangerous winds in the area.

Cited by the lawsuit are eyewitness accounts as well as pictures and videos which show flames leaping from a power transmission tower's base.

A lawsuit was filed on March 5 by Los Angeles County against Southern California Edison. The lawsuit seeks to recover damages and costs related to the Eaton Fire.

The lawsuit claims that SCE equipment caused the wildfire, causing the county to incur costs regarding its response to the fire as well as its aftermath.

According to the lawsuit, videos, photos and witnesses show that the Eaton Fire started underneath SCE's Eaton Canyon transmission lines.

The lawsuit alleges that the fire massively impacted the natural resources of the county, threatened public health and harmed wildlife and the environment.

The cities of Sierra Madre and Pasadena are also suing SCE over damages to public infrastructure and taxpayer resources resulting from the wildfire.

According to Pasadena's lawsuit, numerous municipal assets were damaged, including:

• A police department training facility
• A building and fleet for Pasadena Municipal Assistance, Solutions and Hiring
• Water management infrastructure which is critical, such as storage tanks

In other news, evidence has been uncovered by a private investigator regarding electrical arcing on an electrical tower named M16T1. This structure has not been active for over 50 years. Mere minutes prior to this, at 6:11 PM, SCE noted a power line fault miles away from Eaton Canyon.

A report which was released on Thursday has estimated that the Eaton and Palisades fires led to between $28 billion and $53.8 billion worth of property damage. The report estimates that the resulting business disruptions could lead to as much as $8.9 billion worth of economic losses for the County of Los Angeles in the next five years.

It is estimated by the report that as much as 49,110 job-years could be lost due to the fires, and as much as $3.7 billion of labor income could be reduced due to the fires. Federal, state and local governments could also experiences losses in tax revenue from $730 million to $1.4 billion.

The researchers found that 10,658 properties were affected by the Palisades Fire and 9,226 properties were affected by the Eaton Fire.

The researchers found that 1,117 businesses were impacted by the Palisades Fire and 746 businesses were impacted by the Eaton Fire. An estimated 9,610 workers were employed by the businesses, and the businesses generated an estimated $1.4 billion worth of annual sales.

CAL FIRE structural damage assessments found that over half of structures in the fires' burn areas got destroyed.

Three potential recovery scenarios are analyzed by the report, which takes into account funding challenges, infrastructure rebuilding and workforce shortages. The most optimistic scenario sees the local economy completely recovering by 2029. A moderate scenario projects that economic losses will linger into 2023. The worst-case scenario projects that financial hardship will persist through 2034, with over $400 million worth of annual revenue losses lasting beyond five years.

On February 18, a judge maintained a restraining order, which is temporary, against SCE for an additional week - this orders SCE to preserve physical evidence, data and documents which relate to the Eaton Fire while lawyers who are representing homeowners and the utility work towards agreeing upon an evidence order which is long-term.

The judge declined to address the plaintiffs' lawyers' request for sanctions against the utility, saying a separate filing would cover that and that it is more important for parties to agree upon the evidence preservation's scope.

Clear guardrails were put in place regarding key power infrastructure preservation, as well as a commitment from SCE, which is court-enforceable, to show any and all data regarding why the fire appears to have been started by a de-energized line. The judge is clearly committed to not letting SCE destroy any evidence.

Lawyers asked for sanctions against the utility last week after accusing the utility of lying after learning SCE re-energized transmission lines on the 19th of January without providing prior notice to plaintiffs' lawyers. This, lawyers argued, possibly damaged or altered physical evidence prior to lawyers being able to have their experts test the lines which were de-energized.

An SCE spokeswoman denied this claim, saying the utility sent the lawyers a letter on January 17th, notifying them.

The Los Angeles Times has reported that while Edison may face a significant hit economically from the Eaton Fire, the utility will probably avoid a "fatal blow." Some estimates have put insured damages relating to the fire at $10 billion. The final amount may be higher, though, according to experts.

California lawmakers, in 2019, created an emergency fund which may save Edison should they be found responsible for the fire. This fund could cover up to $21 billion worth of losses if Edison is forced to pay out regarding the Eaton Fire.

Prior to the Eaton Fire, Edison's valuation was around $30 billion, but the utility's valuation has fallen by about 33 percent since the fire, as the utility's share price has been reduced by over 35 percent.

According to Shon Hiatt, a professor at USC's Marshall School of Business, companies can be generally considered at risk of bankruptcy when their liability is double their valuation. Edison's market cap is around $20 billion and it is facing around $10 billion in potential liability regarding the Eaton Fire, so Edison doesn't appear likely to go bankrupt as a result of the fire.

While utilities, under state law, don't need to reimburse the emergency fund created in 2019 when they're found to have acted prudently in order to prevent fires, Edison will need to pay back a total of $4 billion into the fund if they are found to have acted imprudently. Regardless of if Edison is found to have acted appropriately, they will need to pay $1 billion worth of claims before being granted access to the emergency fund if their equipment is found to have started the fire.

In other news, according to Edison International CEO and president Pedro Pizarro, videos of the Eaton Fire's early stages are "concerning" and could suggest a potential link to Southern California Edison equipment.