Power lines over Eaton Canyon saw surge in current before fire, Edison reveals
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Four Southern California Edison lines over Eaton Canyon saw a momentary increase of electrical current about the same time the destructive Eaton fire is believed to have ignited on Jan. 7, the utility told state regulators in a filing Monday.
The incident, according to the filing, happened after Edison’s Eagle Rock-Gould line — which connects to the Gould substation in La Cañada Flintridge, about five miles from the suspected start of the fire — experienced a fault, sending the increase of current across the company’s transmission lines over Eaton Canyon.
Edison officials in the filing said the current increase “remained within the design limits and operating criteria for these circuits and, as intended, did not trigger system protection on these lines.”
Coverage of the fires ravaging Altadena, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Pasadena, including stories about the devastation, issues firefighters faced and the weather.
But that equipment is now part of an expanded court order for Edison to preserve data and hardware that could shed some light as to what exactly caused the deadly blaze.
While an official determination has yet to be made, investigators have zeroed in on an electrical transmission tower in Eaton Canyon, where residents first saw flames at the structure’s base.
According to an agreement reached Monday between attorneys representing the utility and attorneys from the firm Edelson PC — which is representing an Altadena woman who lost her home in the fire — the specified equipment will remain preserved for at least 21 days so it can be examined.
“It’s not a coincidence,” Ali Moghaddas, an attorney with Edelson PC, said about the close timing between the reported fault and the start of the Eaton fire. “That six-mile stretch from the point of origin to the fault, that will remain untouched for 21 days.”
According to the agreement, Edison will preserve and not alter towers and transmission lines for the Goodrich-Gould, Eagle Rock-Mesa, Mesa-Vincent No.1, Mesa-Vincent No. 2 and Mesa-Sylmer circuits in Eaton Canyon, all the way to the Gould substation. It will also preserve the Eagle Rock-Gould circuit between the Eagle Rock and Gould substations, which attorneys for the plaintiffs said are connected to the fault disclosed by Edison on Monday.
After a report from The Times, officials have called for an external review into delayed evacuation alerts in western Altadena, during the Eaton fire.
Edison attorneys initially opposed expansion of a temporary restraining order, which told the company to preserve data and equipment related to the blaze around the suspected point of origin and a 1-square-mile area in eastern Altadena.
Douglas Dixon, an attorney representing Edison, described the request to expand the order as excessive and overly broad, referring to it as “whack-a-mole.”
But after a brief court recess Monday, attorneys for Edison returned with a proposal to also preserve for 21 days the equipment connected to this fault.
Kathleen Dunleavy, a spokesperson for Edison, said the company’s preliminary investigation revealed no faults or damage to the transmission lines in the Eaton Canyon area.
“The impact on the canyon was well within the standard parameters,” Dunleavy said. “This is part of our investigation process.”
After an epic dry streak, the first real rain of winter fell in Southern California, bringing elevated risk of floods and landslides to areas recently burned by wildfires.
Dunleavy said the company has continued to inspect its equipment, including the lines that experienced a fault at 6:11 p.m. Jan. 7. Although these lines are distant from Eaton Canyon, the transmission networks are interconnected.
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the first reports of the Eaton fire came in at 6:18 p.m.
Asked whether the fault that occurred Jan. 7 could cause arcing or sparks in the system five miles away, Dunleavy said incidents like that are common and can be observed in the company’s electric grid.
“We filed the update as part of our commitment to transparency,” she said.
But attorneys who have filed suit against the utility have criticized the company for what they say was an about-face, first telling state regulators that there were “no interruptions or electrical or operational anomalies” until an hour after the fire began. Then, weeks later, the company reported to the California Public Utilities Commission that a fault had occurred about the same time the Eaton fire started, sending increased current along the transmission lines over Eaton Canyon.
Loretta Lynch, president of the commission from 2000 to 2002, said the latest filing by Edison was a red flag.
“Edison’s explanation is an obfuscation of the problem,” she said. “There is a serious problem here, and Edison’s explanation fails to explain the central issue.”
The central question, Lynch said, is whether Edison’s equipment caused the fire.
“This is an attempt to fill the question with irrelevant detail, and it doesn’t answer the questions,” she said. “That fault could have had ripple effects into Eaton Canyon where the fire began.”
Lynch also criticized the timing of the filing, pointing out it occurred nearly three weeks after the fire began and after intense media scrutiny over the fire’s origin. She said utilities, under current rules, are required to report relevant issues within two hours to the Public Utilities Commission.
“They had a duty to tell the regulator,” she said. “They either didn’t know, which should strike fear in the heart of every Californian that the utility didn’t know that their system failed, or they did know, and the question is why didn’t they say.”
The new court order and fault report come as Edison faces increased scrutiny over its potential responsibility for a fire that burned more than 14,000 acres, destroyed more than 9,400 structures and killed 17 people.
Coverage of the fires ravaging Altadena, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Pasadena, including stories about the devastation, issues firefighters faced and the weather.
Before Monday’s court hearing, Edelson PC released a surveillance video that appears to show flashes, possible arcing and sparks emanating from an electrical tower in Eaton Canyon just moments before the area erupts in flames.
Nearby residents have shared videos in the last week showing the early flames burning at the base of a tower. The video released Sunday, however, appeared to show signs of flashes in the dark hillside where electrical towers are.
Edison officials shared the video with investigators over the weekend.
An investigator with Cal Fire told The Times the area near the tower was being investigated as part of the start of the fire.
The area remained off limits to the utility, fire agencies and the news media until Jan. 16.
The area has remained the focus of the investigation, as billions of dollars could be at stake after the fire leveled entire neighborhoods.
Fire investigators are continuing to look at the area and the electrical equipment.
Last week, Cal Fire investigators also requested data and records from Edison regarding transmission facilities in the area, according to Edison’s filing with the state commission.
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