As the first flashes and billows of smoke drew the attention of people living in the Eaton Canyon foothills of Los Angeles County, residents recorded video showing the same set of transmission towers illuminated by flames high on the jungle-covered hillsides.
Cal Fire officials determined that the Eaton Fire started in the area on the night of Jan. 7, but more than a week later the exact source remains under investigation, fueling speculation about whether high-voltage transmission towers started the blaze. Deadly wildfires.
"I still see fire investigators working on the fire," said Brendan Thorn, 28, who recalled witnessing the fire at the base of the tower and who stayed in his Pasadena home as his family fled. Crawling around telephone poles.”
So far, at least three lawsuits filed on behalf of people living in devastated communities in Altadena and Pasadena place blame on Southern California Edison, accusing the company of failing to cut power to all electrical equipment and clear Dense bushes along steep canyons that are prone to fire hazards. ignite.
The CEO of Southern California Edison's parent company said in an interview this week that while distribution lines supplying homes were downed about two hours before the Eaton fire, transmission lines in Eaton Canyon were not shut down because they Towers are stronger and can operate in higher winds. Wind gusts were approaching 100 mph in the area that night.
"When we did our telemetry and system monitoring, we didn't find anything," Edison International CEO Pedro Pizarro told CNBC about the company's review of the transmission line response before and after the fire. Electrical anomaly. "This is what you see when a device sparks."
He added that "there may be other mechanisms here" but workers "have no access to the towers".
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the investigation into the origins of the Canyon Fire is in its early stages. The Eaton Fire, one of several major blazes in the Los Angeles area that has caused massive damage and was fueled by Santa Ana winds, has burned more than 14,110 acres and is about 45% contained, fire officials said Wednesday. At least 16 people died as a result.
While federal data shows the vast majority of wildfires are caused by humans — with an early focus on potential human causes being the ongoing Palisades Fire — it’s not unheard of for utility transmission lines to be the source.
State investigators have concluded that the 2018 Camp Fire in the Northern California town of Paradise that killed dozens of people was caused by transmission lines owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
The next year, PG&E transmission lines also sparked a fire known as the Kincade Fire, which triggered the largest evacuation in Sonoma County history, investigators said.
The utility reached a preliminary $13.5 billion settlement with Camp Fire victims and agreed to pay millions as part of the settlement to avoid criminal prosecution in the Kincade Fire.
Michael Vara, director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford University, said the investigation into the Eaton fire will rely on knowledge of high-voltage transmission towers in the area where video and photo evidence appears to show flames. strengthened.
"Edison probably climbed that tower and inspected it, but we don't know yet if there was something wrong with it," Vara said. “How old is the power cord?”
Investigators trying to determine whether power lines are the culprit will look at whether the power lines themselves are live, their condition and debris at the site, said Stephanie Chase, research and communications manager at the Energy & Policy Institute, a utility regulator. area, rather than looking for evidence pointing to human causes, such as accelerators.
Transmission towers, which carry electricity over long distances, are much taller than the low-voltage distribution poles used to deliver power to homes and businesses. They are more susceptible to power outages during weather events and are more likely to come into contact with tree branches and other vegetation.
Vara said transmission towers can withstand the elements given their size, and the decision to turn off power to them to prevent wildfires requires planning and forethought.
The four transmission lines in the area where the Eaton fire occurred are believed to be part of a larger transmission system backbone.
"You can't isolate this decision to this line of business," Vara said. "There are four lines in this corridor and it's part of a system of lines that come over the mountains from the Central Valley."
Vara added that cutting power to certain transmission lines across the region would have a ripple effect across the system, potentially plunging millions into darkness and causing "a catastrophe."
If anything, he said, there is a need for a larger discussion about how best to modernize transmission lines, since many of them may be weather-beaten and have "a level of fatigue that cannot be seen through visual inspection." .
The California Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, an agency that works to reduce the risk of utility-related wildfires, said in an October report that Southern California Edison will continue to evaluate its transmission lines for problems with joints that are being used for repairs. It is critical that the wiring; the connectors are fully functioning, otherwise the wiring may fall out. The utility said Tuesday that it is inspecting joints using X-ray technology that "supplements visual inspections with a method that can detect conditions not detectable by the naked eye."
It said that last year, it "spent more than $1.8 billion to mitigate wildfire risks, including inspecting and upgrading transmission and distribution infrastructure more frequently than state regulators require."
For now, residents like Thorne must consider what steps they can take to prevent this wildfire, such as shutting down power lines or adequately clearing vegetation.
"We live in danger, right?" Thorne said.
His family's home, built in the mid-1950s, and other nearby homes survived, while a home two blocks away burned.
Less than a quarter-mile away, another Pasadena resident, 70-year-old Pedro Rojas, recorded video of a smaller fire casting an orange glow over the hillside.
Rojas, a retired journalist, said he was watching a basketball game on television on Jan. 7 when a neighbor knocked on his door to alert him to the fire. At 6:21 p.m., about three minutes after the first reports started pouring in, he walked to his kitchen window and captured the scene.
During the dispatch call, firefighters were told: "We have about a 10-acre brush fire in the ravine underneath the high voltage power lines."
Within 20 minutes, Rojas said, he and his wife packed their belongings and four fire trucks and two police cars arrived at their cul-de-sac. He later learned that his home had survived.
"I never would have imagined that a small fire like the one we saw in the tower could cause so much damage," Rojas said.
Jeffrey Ku, 50, of Altadena, said a ring camera at his home a few blocks from Rojas began recording his wife at about 6:19 p.m. Cheryll came home around that time and saw the fire when she got home. Driving on a nearby highway.
He said what the cameras captured were "34 minutes of terror".
By 6:28 p.m., power lines were engulfed in smoke and flames.
The couple packed up their two Chihuahuas, Beckham and Bellamy, and evacuated safely despite dangerous winds raining down embers. Jeffrey Ku said knowing his home had survived was a highlight of a "terrible" experience.
"It's going to be a long road to recovery and I know we will come out stronger," he added, "but none of this would be possible without the help of people here and people far and wide."