Southern California Edison (SCE) submitted a filing to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) last week, out of an “abundance of caution,” notifying the regulator that it received a complaint alleging its equipment was involved in starting the Mountain Fire, which is still ongoing in California.
In the filing, SCE maintains that it only submitted the report because the complaint may meet the reporting criteria, due to the allegation that utility facilities may have been involved in the fire. However, SCE said no fire agency to date has suggested that its facilities were involved in the ignition, and it has not received requests for removal and retention of any SCE equipment. The plaintiffs in the legal complaint over the wildfire have also dropped the lawsuit against SCE, VC Star reports.
Additionally, SCE said preliminary information suggests that its equipment did not have any “interruptions or operations on the section of the circuit nearest to where SCE understands the suspected origin location of the fire close in time to its ignition.” In the filing, the alleged incident location is listed as : Balcom Canyon Road Somis, Ventura County.
Thus, SCE said it believes the incident does not meet reporting criteria – but it may be better safe than sorry in this case.
The Mountain Fire has been ongoing in Ventura County, Southern California since November 6, with more than 20,000 acres burned and multiple injuries reported so far. As of Thursday, the fire is 98% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. On the day of ignition, Southern California was experiencing strong Santa Ana winds, with gusts exceeding 65 mph, and low relative humidity values below 20%. The cause of the fire is yet to be determined.
Earlier this year, SCE agreed to pay $80 million to settle claims on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service connected to the massive Thomas wildfire that destroyed more than a thousand homes and other structures in 2017. The utility did not admit any wrongdoing or fault as part of the settlement.
Investigations found utility equipment sparked the fire in two canyon locations on Dec. 4, 2017. The Thomas fire, which burned across 439 square miles (1,137 square kilometers) in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, is the seventh largest blaze in California history, according to state fire officials. Federal prosecutors sued the utility in 2020 to recover costs incurred fighting the fire and for the extensive damage caused on public lands within the Los Padres National Forest. The lawsuit alleged SCE power lines and a transformer ignited dry brush during powerful winds.
The utility has also settled claims related to the enormous Woolsey fire in 2018. SCE estimated in 2021 that total expected losses for both blazes would exceed $4.5 billion.
California has seen increasingly destructive wildfires in recent years, made worse by climate change and drought. Utility equipment has been blamed for sparking some the state’s worst fires.
This article contains reporting from the Associated Press.
