Southern California Edison reported that their examination revealed a “fault” on a line at least five miles from the initial fire spot, as investigators continue to look into the Eaton Fire.
Following a press conference in Glendale on Monday morning, SCE spokesman Kathleen Dunleavy stated, “Our preliminary analysis found no faults on the transmission lines that run through the canyon.” “On a deeper analysis into more distant lines, we did identify a fault.”
According to a new report filed on January 27 with the California Public Utilities Commission, SoCal Edison discovered a problem on the line between the Eagle Rock and Gould substations. The CPUC report from SoCal Edison states that the Eagle Rock substation is “12 circuit miles away” from the preliminary ignition location, while the Gould substation is “five circuit miles away.”
The power company claimed in the CPUC report that there was a “momentary and expected increase in current” in their system as a result of the Eagle Rock-Gould incident. Given that its “transition system is networked,” the four electrified lines that are connected to two transmission towers close to the Eaton Fire origin location showed an increase in current.
Yet it “remained within the design limits and operating criteria for these circuits and, as intended, did not trigger system protection on these lines.”
SoCal Edison refuted the assertion that its equipment was the cause of the fire in an incident report submitted to the CPUC on January 12, stating that there were “no interruptions or electrical or operational anomalies until more than one hour after the reported start time of the fire.”
In its January 12 report, SoCal Edison noted that “no fire agency has requested the removal and retention of any SCE equipment or suggested that SCE’s electric facilities were involved in the ignition.”
SoCal Edison stated in the most recent CPUC letter that it gathered metal objects from “an encampment located approximately 300 yards downhill from the towers” as well as things discovered close to the Eaton Canyon towers. They claimed to be keeping the evidence in a safe place.
After a court hearing between Southern California Edison and lawyers for the fire victims, the utility company agreed to preserve further electrical equipment located miles from the suspected start location of the Eaton Fire.
After the hearing on Monday morning, lawyer Ali Moghaddas stated, “We were forced to file an emergency order with this judge.” “Thankfully, this judge agreed with us.”
Moghaddas’s firm, Edelson PC, filed the document, which builds on a decision last week that mandated SoCal Edison to protect equipment within a one-square-mile radius west of Eaton Canyon, where fire investigators think the wildfire originated. Beginning Monday, the utilities will store the equipment for 21 days.
“They now have to preserve over six miles worth of equipment that we believe is involved in this fire,” Moghaddas stated.
Edelson released security camera footage from an Altadena gas station the weekend before the new CPUC letter. According to the company, the footage shows electrical arcing and sparking on a SCE tower on January 7 at 6:11 p.m., which is seven minutes before the California Department of Forestry and Fire believes the Eaton Fire began.
Dunleavy stated on Monday that the corporation learned of the surveillance footage on Saturday, one day prior to the January 26 article in the New York Times.The business stated that it will examine the video “to assess any potential relation between the flashes shown in the video and SCE’s facilities in Eaton Canyon.”
“While our preliminary investigation uncovered no obvious damage to SCE’s facilities, based in part upon this new video and statement made by plaintiffs’ counsel claiming damage, we continue to assess the condition of our equipment in Eaton Canyon,” the business said to the CPUC.
With assistance from Cal Fire and other organizations, the Los Angeles County Fire Department is spearheading the investigation. The inquiry is still ongoing, and the cause of the fire has not been identified.