As investigators worked to determine the cause of the Eton fire, the focus was on several parallel power lines just outside of Altadena, owned by Southern California Edison.
It remains to be seen whether the company is responsible for bringing the January 7 flame into a spark, but the company’s record revealed by the Times Show, where Edison knew that some of the towers that are likely to be Ignition Point were a fire hazard.
With evidence still being collected and dozens of cases pending, the utility is keeping everything possible to prevent wildfires.
However, the company filed with the state’s Show Towers on the current three lines is a potential “ignition risk” and is considered long behind for serious maintenance.
The two lines were still active and powered the area until a fire broke out. The third row, which the company officials said was built about a century ago, was abolished in 1971. This means that they have not carried electricity to their customers for decades.
The mystery of how the unused line caused Inferno has baffled some following the incident, but experts said it is possible given the situation.
Edison data reviewed by the Times shows that as of December 31, the utility had 94 open work orders along three lines. Company work order records from the beginning of this year were not available.
Orders were for a variety of tasks, including clearing vegetation clears that could potentially ignite, securing damaged or broken insulators, replacing loose connectors, and repairing towers. Data shows that almost 30 of the orders were responsible for the ignition risk.
The company had placed over 30 additional work orders for two other energyized lines running Eton Canyon, Mesa Vincent No. 2 and the Goodrich Gould Line. There was no order on either line that was close to the suspected ignition.
However, the June 2023 “Weed Reduction” work order included coordinates that locate it as a tall steel transmission tower with people believed the fire had been fired. It was on the spread of the active Mesa Vincent No. 1 line near Altadena, and at that time there were open work orders in almost every tower.
Edison It explains That type of maintenance, like trimming trees and plants, “they don’t grow or fall into high-voltage power lines, as they can not only cause power outages, but also cause fire and are generally at risk.”
You must assign a Level 2 priority and the work must be completed within six months. According to state regulationsbecause fire risk was being addressed in areas with the highest wildfire threat levels.
Six days later, a “structural brushing” work order was created on a nearby parallel tower equipped with the Eagle Rock Mesaline. Edison I said The work “can mitigate the risks posed by vegetation at the poles and the base of the structure and provide the fuel needed to convert sparks from equipment failure to fire.”
Both work orders were flagged as “ignition risk” and remained open as of December 31st. Edison in Southern California said both orders should be assigned an emergency level 3 priority, as they are exempt from state regulations that control “vegetation management” around the power line.
The tower, several dozen feet from Mesa Vincent No. 1, is also being scrutinized as a possible starting point for the Eton Fire. Videos shot by local residents appear to show flames at all three tower bases at the moment before the fire surged towards Altadena.
The third tower features a Mesa-Sylmar transmit line that has not been connected to a power source for decades. still Some investigators and lawyers sue the utility believe it It could have somehow made me feel better on January 7th.
Seven of the 94 orders that were open on three lines on December 31st were for work on the tower along the deprecated line.
In May, the company recorded an order of work to address “hardware/framing” issues at the Mesa Silmar Tower, approximately 400 yards from the point where the ignition is suspected. Level 1 priority has been assigned. This indicates a “high risk of potential impact on safety or reliability” and requires a “” in the utility.[t]Remedial action is taken immediately.” According to State regulators.
Raj Roy, Vice President of Transmission, Substations and Operations in Edison in Southern California, said in an interview that the order was “first identified” as a Level 1 priority during aerial inspections on May 9th.
The worker visited the location later that day and determined that “repairs are not necessary.” The work order was “not managed to close,” Roy said, so records did not reflect the updated status.
The other six orders included 1-3 words of explanations for what needed to be modified, such as “connectors” and “insulators.” This is part of the electrical equipment that some experts have said that if the line gives energy while it’s broken or damaged it can cause an arc or other dangerous problem.
Electrical engineering researcher and director of Virginia Tech’s Power and Energy Center, Ali Mehrizi-Sani, reviewed the Times findings by studying the role utility companies play in shutting down Wildfires.
He wrote in an email that one important question was that Edison was “a neglecting to follow appropriate policies relating to equipment maintenance” before the Eton fire.
“How did they determine the deadline?” he wrote. “It appears that some high-risk lines had a significant date for repairs in the future.”
The company said in its filing last month it was assessing whether the flame was launched by reenacting the unused mesa-Silmerline.
“We don’t know what caused the Eaton fire. We don’t see any typical or obvious evidence related to ignition caused by utility,” Roy said. He added that the company “will be doing a thorough investigation ourselves and we will definitely be transparent if we know that otherwise we will tell us.”
Veteran fire safety scientist Vito Bablauska said that it was “certainly possible” that Mesa Schirmer Line could energize on January 7th via a principle called induction.
“The electromagnetic field from an operating transmission line essentially passes through that deadline and induces current,” he explained.
He said he believes Edison’s work order cited the ignition risk.
Babrauskas added that it is no secret that running electricity through an old tower can cause dangerous sparks.
“I wrote the entire book about how these things get worse,” he said, referring to his paper, “electrical fires and explosions.”
in Filing for February 6th The California Utilities Commission wrote in the Eaton Fire Committee that it “is assessing many potential causes, including whether the Idol Mesa-Silmer Transmission Line can be lively.”
The company wrote that the visual evidence “provides no clear indication of an arc or material change in the tower’s condition.”
Edison writes that around the time the Eaton Fire began on January 7th, four active lines via the Eaton Canyon, including the Mesa Vincent No. 1 and the Eagle Rock Mesa line, experienced a “increase in current” caused by faults on another line several miles away.
The active transmission line went out within hours of the start of the fire. However, when they were recreated on January 19th, workers witnessed a small flash of white light at each reactivation that appears to be on the parallel tower pair carrying the lines of Mesa Vincent No. 1 and Mesa Schirmer.
In 2020, Edison reported that over 90% of the power towers were at least 30 years old, and that it was the “average age” when the company began to show signs of corrosion, which could lead to problems including “structural disorders.”
As of December 31, 2022, records show that the company had over 20,200 work orders over 180 days, including over 5,200 cases with “ignition risk.”
Asked about its backlog, Roy said, “It’s typical to have a lot of work orders open for utilities, as we’re actively working on our systems in terms of maintenance and inspection, and obviously all of our utilities have different sizes.”
He said, “Because these are idle facilities for our transmission system, we had the Mesa-Sylmar infrastructure in place to maintain and manage potential use.
Mikal Watts, the lawyer who co-affiliated with the utility last month on behalf of the three Altadena residents whose homes were destroyed in the Eton Fire, is one of the most vocal supporters of the hypothesis that the fire broke out on Mesa Schirmer’s line.
“They still need to eliminate the risk of ignition and instead they have work orders from over five years ago that they didn’t play,” he said.
Watts said Edison’s approach to maintenance “don’t fix it until it fails, it means that it kills 17 people and burns out when it fails. [thousands of] It hurts the whole home and the community forever. ”
Public Utilities Committee That’s necessary The utility will remove “permanently abandoned” power lines that “will not be foreseenable in the future” to avoid being “a public nuisance or a danger to life or property.”
Another power company, Pacific Gas & Electric; I agreed to pay $125 million Subsequent fines and penalties The state firefighter decided The line, which remained vibrant after the 2019 Kinkard fire that burned more than 77,000 acres in Sonoma County, caused a Kinsade fire.
Roy told the state legislators. Public hearing Last month, there is a “difference” and “Idol” lines between the “Abandoned” lines and the “Idol” lines [the Eaton fire] Areas that are regularly maintained and inspected. ”
During the same hearing, Rachel Peterson, the committee’s executive director, said “there is no timeline,” directing how quickly the utility should remove abandoned lines.
However, she added that “there is a general responsibility to operate the system safely.”
On Tuesday, Edison provided an update on the investigation into the Eton Fire cause.
“The cause remains under investigation as part of our continued commitment to a thorough and transparent investigation,” the company said. “Edison in Southern California is beginning the next phase of inspection and testing of Eton Canyon electrical equipment that began yesterday.”
