Lawyers blame decommissioned transmission tower for deadly Eaton fire

Wildfire lawyers with LA Fire Justice revealed Thursday the cause of what they believe started the deadly Eaton fire in Los Angeles back in January

The group blames a transmission tower owned by Southern California Edison and decommissioned since 1971

So that leads to the obvious question, how does a deactivated line get energized such that it can ignite a fire that becomes a major conflagration such as the Eaton fire which burned down your town

To answer that question, L.A. fire justice officials created this video rendering of the transmission towers on Eaton Canyon, showing how they believe the fire most likely started

According to the video, on January 7th at 6.11 p.m., there was a fault at one of Edison's substations, which they say can cause voltage surges from miles away

You can see a flash on Tower 3. Officials describe this as an electric arcane event

When this happens, the metal on the steel towers can reach temperatures as high as 1,500 degrees

Then the rendering shows a second flash along a high-voltage line attached to Tower 3

This causes a piece of melted metal to fall onto the ground and catch brush on fire The fire then progresses downhill to the Altadena area Wildfire lawyer Michael Watts says Southern California Edison could have prevented the fire

by turning off the power in what's called a public safety power shutoff. This is a massive

massively expensive wildfire that Southern California Edison owes the bill for. Earlier this month, Pedro Pizarro, who's the president and chief executive officer of Edison

International, told the Los Angeles Times, we still don't know whether Edison equipment caused

the Eaton Fire. It's certainly possible it did. I've pledged to be transparent with the public as

we continue to investigate, he said. Last week, representatives with Southern California Edison

said the electrical company is planning to bury more than 150 miles of power lines

near Altadena and Malibu, the New York Times reports. According to Cal Fire, the Eaton Fire

killed 18 people, destroyed more than 9,000 structures, and scorched more than 14,000 acres

The cause remains under investigation. In 2023, a federal judge dismissed criminal charges against

Pacific Gas and Electric after its equipment sparked the Zog fire in Northern California

For Straight Arrow News, I'm Lauren Keenan. For more on this story, download the Straight Arrow News app or visit san.com