The mother of a woman who died in a fire in Eaton, Los Angeles, on Friday sued Southern California Edison (SCE) in what may be the first death lawsuit brought against the electric utility in connection with the disaster.
Multiple fires that began burning last week and spread quickly across Los Angeles amid strong Santa Ana wind gusts have killed more than two dozen people and charred nearly 16,200 acres of the second-largest U.S. metropolitan area.
While official investigators have not revealed the cause of the Eaton Fire near Pasadena, California, SCE has filed a growing number of lawsuits blaming the utility’s equipment for igniting the initial flames.
Altadena resident Evelyn Cathirell sued SCE for wrongful death after the remains of her daughter Evelyn “Petey” McClendon were found in the home they shared after it was destroyed by fire.
“Petey’s final hours were filled with chaos and panic,” says the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. “The environment was straight out of a disaster movie, with embers blowing freely in the wind, spot fires sprouting in every direction, and a never-ending wind.”
Several lawsuits filed
Cathirell’s lawsuit follows several lawsuits filed against SCE this week by residents and business owners with destroyed property.
Late Thursday evening, attorneys for a woman who lost her home in the Eaton Fire in the Los Angeles area filed an emergency motion with SCE to preserve additional electrical equipment to be examined as part of a fire investigation, court records show.
Evangeline Iglesias, who was among those who sued SCE after her Altadena home burned in the inferno, asked Los Angeles Superior Court to stop SCE’s efforts to destroy some distribution lines and other electrical equipment in the fire area, according to court documents.
A spokesman for SCE said the company was focused on restoring power to affected areas. The company said it is aware of the lawsuits related to the Eaton fire and will review them.
SCE, the main subsidiary of Edison International, previously announced that some energy assets had been retained for examination as part of a fire investigation.
The law firm Edelson PC, which represents Iglesias, said in filings that SCE has told the firm in letters that it intends to remove physical energy infrastructure in the fire area shortly unless it specifically says what equipment it should keep.
This level of specificity is inappropriate, Edelson argued in his emergency motion to the court, “particularly when most or all of this evidence is owned by SCE and SCE has unique knowledge of the origin and spread of the fire,” as the filing shows .
Multiple investigations into the cause of the Eaton and Palisades fires – the two most devastating fires in California – are underway.
