The mother of a woman who died Friday in the Los Angeles-area Eaton Fire is suing Southern California Edison (SCE) in what may be the first wrongful death lawsuit brought against the utility over the disaster.
Last week, multiple wildfires that started burning and quickly spread across Los Angeles with strong wind gusts in Santa Ana killed more than two dozen people and charred nearly 16,200 hectares of the second-largest metropolitan area in the US.
Although official investigators have not released the cause of the Eaton fire near Pasadena, California, SCE has filed a growing number of lawsuits accusing the company's equipment of starting the initial flames.
Altadena resident Evelyn Cathirell sued SCE for wrongful death after the remains of her daughter, Evelyn “Petey” McClendon, destroyed by fire, were found in the home they shared.
“Petey's final hours were filled with chaos and panic,” the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, said. “The area was like a disaster movie: embers floating freely in the wind, fires shooting in all directions and constant wind.”
Many lawsuits have been filed
Cathirell's legal action follows multiple lawsuits filed this week against SCE by residents and business owners over damaged property.
Records show that late Thursday evening, attorneys for a woman who lost her home in Los Angeles' Eaton Fire filed an emergency request with SCE to secure additional electrical equipment for the fire investigation.
Court documents show Evangeline Iglesias, who is one of the people suing SCE after her Altadena home burned down, has asked Los Angeles Superior Court to stop SCE's efforts to destroy some distribution lines and other electrical equipment in the area covered by fire.
An SCE spokesman said the company was focused on restoring power to affected areas. The company said it is aware of lawsuits related to the Eaton fire and will review them.
SCE, a major subsidiary of Edison International, previously said it had retained some energy equipment for examination as part of an investigation into the fire.
The law firm representing Iglesias, Edelson PC, said in its filings that SCE had informed the company in a letter that it planned to immediately remove physical energy infrastructure from the fire area unless it clearly specified what equipment it would retain.
The level of detail Edelson argued in his emergency court filing was unwarranted, records show, “particularly when most or all of this evidence is in SCE's possession and where SCE has unique knowledge of the origins and spread of fire.”
Multiple investigations are ongoing into the causes of the Eaton and Palisades fires, two of the most destructive wildfires in California.