The federal government sued Southern California Edison (SCE) for $40 million, alleging that the utility's equipment caused the 2017 Creek fire, which destroyed 70 homes in the Angeles National Forest. The lawsuit claims SCE withheld crucial data that could have led to a quicker identification of the fire's cause.
When the Creek fire exploded in the Angeles National Forest in 2017, suspicions quickly fell on electric power lines as the cause. Witnesses reported seeing a snapped line on a high-voltage transmission tower in Little Tujunga Canyon around the time the fire started, and investigators focused their attention there. “There was fire concentrated over there and sparks coming off the pylon. ... It spread each direction,” one resident told The Times.
But the investigation was complicated by the fact that LADWP officials said the fire started six minutes before they had any faults on their power line. The investigative report was released publicly in 2020, and insurance companies and fire victims suing LADWP asked Edison for data in April 2020 related to a distribution line known as the Lopez Circuit near the fire's origin.
CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON CREEK FIRE FIRE INVESTIGATION LEGAL SUIT
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