As more and more information surrounding the Eaton Fire that ravaged the Altadena Black community comes to light, more questions start to arise. On Tuesday, county officials released a report stating that the deadly 2025 fire was caused by faulty Southern California Edison equipment.
Los Angeles County Fire officials found that the cause of the fire that killed 19 people and destroyed or damaged more than 9,000 homes and businesses was a tower that was not in service, according to the report.
“After 18 months of thorough review of all evidence, alongside retained electrical and metallurgical experts, the investigation concluded that the cause of the wildfire conflagration was due to the electrical arcing events that took place on the out-of-service Southern California Edison (SCE) tower,” the agency said in a statement.
Kathleen Dunleavy, a spokesperson for Southern California Edison, said the utility has received the report and is reviewing it.
“We have taken our potential role in the start of this fire seriously from the very beginning,” Dunleavy said. She said SCE previously acknowledged “it was likely our equipment was associated with the ignition of the Eaton Fire.” It took firefighters a month to extinguish the 22-mile blaze.
The Los Angeles County Arson Fire Investigation Unit jointly investigated with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. It found electrical arcing on the utility’s out-of-service tower sparked the dry brush below and that the utility was responsible for maintaining and operating its electrical lines and equipment “in a manner that would minimize the risk of catastrophic wildfire posed by them.”
The utility also has claimed water agencies, including Pasadena Water and Power, did not provide enough water as the fire spread, leaving firefighters with limited resources. Los Angeles County declined to comment about the latest court filings.
SoCal Edison claimed in lawsuits earlier in the year that the county failed to evacuate residents, leading to 18 of the 19 people’s deaths in the fire.
The man accused of sparking the Palisades Fire will be tried again this fall after his first federal arson case ended in a mistrial in June. Prosecutors said Jonathan Rinderknecht used a barbecue lighter on Jan. 1, 2025, to spark a blaze that burned undetected deep in the root systems before flaring back up on Jan. 7.
The Eaton fire burned at the same time as the Palisades Fire, the most destructive blaze in Los Angeles to date and among the five worst in California’s history. The blaze killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 homes and buildings in Pacific Palisades. The fire ripped through hillside neighborhoods, destroying mansions with spectacular ocean views.
