About 14 hours before the Eton Fire began on January 7th, power lines in the area were showing signs of tension from the enhanced winds on the hills above Atadena and Pasadena, California.
New data from companies maintaining electrical sensors suggest that Edison's transmission network in Southern California was stressed long before the hardest winds in the Los Angeles area fell, adding to growing criticism that the utility was not enough to prevent the flames. Edison is already under review as a possible cause of the Eton fire, which killed 17 people and destroyed more than 9,400 buildings.
The data comes from Whisker Labs, a Maryland technology company, and suggests that Edison's power lines had faults or electrical malfunctions at 4:28am and 4:36am. The wind speeds at that time were maintained at 60 mph, with gusts reaching 79 mph.
Later that day, Whisker identified two obstacles in a transmission network near Eton Canyon at 6:11pm, just minutes before the fire broke out. These obstacles coincided with flashes of transmission lines recorded by video cameras at nearby Alco gas stations.
Southern California Edison, which supplies electricity to several communities near Eton Canyon, including Atadena, did not cut power to its transmission lines despite early morning faults. Also, after the second fault in the evening when the wind reached 100 mph, the utility did not reduce the power of the transmission line.
“They're very similar,” Bob Marshall, co-founder and CEO of Whisker Lab, said of the morning and evening faults. “We believe they are in the same area. They definitely have communication disorders.”
Marshall said his company notified Edison of the latest findings and identified them after company experts analyzed more data. Whisker Labs operates sensors in homes that help predict and prevent home fires.
Utility critics argue that the massive, very strong faults, which are sensors that were registered by Portland, Oregon and Salt Lake City, suggest that Edison should reduce power to its transmission lines as weather conditions worsen.
“I think there are some great photos of what happened,” said Robert McCullough, principal of the McCullough Study in Portland, Oregon, at a request from the New York Times that he is reviewing data and information about Edison, including the Whisker Lab. “Too many people didn't respond well enough,” he added.
Investigators have not determined the cause of the Eton Fire, but residents and local governments have filed a lawsuit against Edison, claiming utility equipment has lit one of the worst wildfires in California history. In the lawsuit against Edison, Los Angeles County cited a video of a gas station as evidence. This video was first reported by The Times.
Edison spokesman Kathleen Dunleavy said the decision to cut electricity is based on a number of factors, including wind speeds in certain areas and the threat of wildfires. Electric faults alone do not guarantee a decision to reduce electricity, she said. However, the National Weather Service issued a red flag fire warning for Southern California until January 7th, focusing on extreme weather conditions coupled with dry vegetation.
Edison guidelines require engineers to consider cutting off power on the power line when the wind is 68-90 mph. Dunleavy said the conditions do not guarantee that power to the power lines known as public safety power cuts.
“We didn't meet the PSPS threshold based on wind speeds and fire threat,” Dunleavy said.
However, government data shows how wind speeds are registered multiple times for utility thresholds that day and on that day. According to a time analysis of National Weather Service data, gusts of winds in the Eastern San Gabriel Mountains in the Atadena region exceeded 68 mph at least 20 times from 2pm to 1am on January 6th to January 8th.
The utility had a failure in the transmission line at the Times Whisker Lab recorded on the morning of January 7th, but Dunleevi said earlier that day the fault was not associated with the line at Eton Canyon. She admitted that the utility was talking to Whisker Lab about its findings.
“These two faults did not occur on the line that crosses the canyon,” Dunleavy said. “They have nothing to do with any line at Eton Canyon.”
Initially, the utility issued a similar statement about the Whiscarab, a fault recorded at about 6:11pm, but video at the gas station showed that the fault coincided with flashes on the Altadena region's transmission line, and Edison said that by looking at the visual evidence, the utility urged its own investigation into the cause of the fire.
Edison cut power before the fire began, becoming three low-voltage circuits that would serve the Kinelo Amesa community on the other side of the Eton Canyon in Altadena. However, Eton Canyon's high voltage transmission lines and Altadena's low voltage lines were not blocked as wind speeds picked up and a fire broke out.
On Monday, Edison began physical and video inspections and electrical equipment testing in Eton Canyon, the area where fire investigators said the Eton fire had begun. The utility said this phase of the field testing will last for several weeks, followed by lab and engineering analysis as part of an investigation into the cause of the flames.
“We owe it to the public here. I said from the start that we wanted to make sure there is total transparency here,” said Pedro Pizzaro, president and CEO of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison.
The Eton Fire was one of several wildfires that began in the Los Angeles area on January 7th. They include the Pallisard Fire, which destroyed many of the Pacific coastal communities of Pallisard, and the Hurst Fire, which began north of the Eton Fire.
Edison told state regulators that the equipment could be involved in the cause of the Hearst fire. Three major obstacles were identified in the transmission network near Hearst before the fire began, according to Whisker data.
Joey K. Lee contributed the report.
