Los Angeles County announced Wednesday that it was suing utility Southern California Edison and its parent company to recover costs and damages sustained from January’s deadly Eaton Fire.
“The lawsuit alleges that SCE’s equipment caused the deadly blaze, requiring the County to incur massive costs responding to the fire and its aftermath,” the county said in a release detailing the move.
The cities of Pasadena and Sierra Madre are also filing suits against the company for damages incurred from the fire.
A request for comment from the utility was not immediately returned. Southern California Edison said in February that its investigation was ongoing and that the cause of the fire’s ignition had not been determined.
“Information and data have come to light, such as videos from external parties of the fire’s early stages, suggesting a possible link to SCE’s equipment, which the company takes seriously. SCE has not identified typical or obvious indications that would support this association, such as broken conductors, fresh arc marks in the preliminary origin area, or evidence of faults on the energized lines running through that area,” it said.
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