In one suit, several witnesses are cited as having seen a fire at the base of a transmission tower owned by the company.
Southern California Edison, a subsidiary of Edison International, has faced multiple lawsuits alleging that its electrical equipment caused one of the wildfires burning through the Los Angeles area, according to court filings.
The suits, which were unsealed on Monday, appear to be the first of hundreds or thousands that could result from wildfires that have ravaged parts of southern California in the United States over the past week.
The lawsuits were filed in Los Angeles County District Court on behalf of homeowners, renters, business owners and other property owners who were damaged by the Eaton fire in the Pasadena area.
At least 24 people have died since the fire started last Tuesday, and more than 90,000 people have fled their homes. More than a dozen people are reported missing, authorities said.
The Eaton fire in the foothills east of Los Angeles has burned about 5,712 hectares (14,117 acres), or 57 sq km (22 sq miles) – about the size of Manhattan. That fire is the second deadliest in California history, according to another complaint.
In one of the suits, several witnesses are said to have seen a fire at the base of a Southern California Edison transmission tower.
Some of the witnesses shared videos of the incident on their social media accounts, including a post by Instagram user @jeffrey.ku about a video of the fire at the base of the transmission tower that he said was taken shortly after Eaton started. fire.
It also reported Brendan Thorn, who was interviewed by local ABC News. Thorn said in an interview that he lives near Eaton Canyon and saw “knee-high” flames around the transmission towers when the fire first started.
Southern California Edison did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the charges.
On Monday morning, the CEO of Edison International said in a TV interview that the company continues to investigate the fire and did not detect any electrical problems in its equipment at the time of the Eaton fire.
“It's similar to what you see when you have energy from equipment,” Pedro Pizarro said during a CNBC interview when asked about the company's investigation into the Eaton fire.
“There may be another way here. Unfortunately, we have not been able to approach the lines so far,” he said.
Stock down
Shares of Edison International fell nearly 12 percent to $57.24 on Monday. They are down about 27 percent since the fire started last week.
SCE, on January 9 and 10, issued safety reports on the Eaton and Hurst fires, respectively.
Southern California Edison said it received notices from insurance companies to preserve evidence related to the Eaton fire, adding that the fire may have been caused by its utility equipment, which prompted it to release its January 9 report.
It added that no fire department has reported that its electrical equipment was involved in the fire.
However, a day later in Hurst's report, the company noted that it had found a downed conductor in the area but did not know if the damage occurred before or after the fire.