Author: Laila Kearney
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The mother of a woman who was killed in the Los Angeles area Eaton (NYSE: ) Fire sued Southern California Edison on Friday in what could be the first fatality-related case filed against a power utility in connection with the disaster.
Multiple wildfires that began burning and spreading rapidly across Los Angeles under strong Santa Ana winds last week have killed more than two dozen people and charred about 40,000 acres in America’s second-largest metro area.
While official investigators have not released the cause of the Eaton fire near Pasadena, SCE has filed a growing number of lawsuits accusing the utility’s equipment of sparking the initial flames.
Altadena resident Evelyn Cathirell sued SCE for wrongful death after the remains of her daughter, Evelyn “Petey” McClendon, were found in their home after it was destroyed by fire.
“Petey’s final hours were filled with chaos and panic,” according to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. “The environment was like something out of a disaster movie with embers blowing freely in the wind, fires springing up in all directions and the wind never stopping.”
Cathirell’s legal action follows multiple lawsuits filed this week against SCE by residents and business owners with destroyed property.
Late Thursday night, attorneys for a woman who lost her home in the Los Angeles-area Eaton Fire filed an emergency request for SCE to preserve additional electrical equipment to be tested in the fire investigation, court records show.
Evangeline Iglesias, who is among those suing SCE after her Altadena home was decimated in the inferno, has asked Los Angeles Superior Court to stop SCE’s efforts to destroy some distribution lines and other electrical equipment in the area of the fire, according to court documents.
An SCE spokesman said the company is focused on restoring power to affected areas. The company said it is aware of the lawsuits related to the Eaton Fire and will look into them.
SCE, which is the main subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: ), previously said it had preserved some power equipment for testing in the fire investigation.
The law firm representing Iglesias, Edelson PC, said in filings that SCE has informed the company in letters that it plans to immediately remove physical energy infrastructure in the burn area unless it is told what equipment to keep.
That level of specificity, Edelson argued in his emergency court motion, was unreasonable, “particularly where most or all of the evidence is owned by SCE and where SCE has unique knowledge of the fire’s origin and spread,” the filing showed.
Numerous investigations are underway into the causes of the Eaton and Palisades fires — two of California’s most destructive wildfires.
