By Grace Toohey
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — Out-of-service equipment managed by Southern California Edison started the deadly Eaton fire that killed 19 people and destroyed much of Altadena in January 2025, according to a long-awaited report by state and county fire officials.
The report, released Tuesday by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and Los Angeles County Fire Department, confirms long-held suspicions about the fire’s origin after it sparked near a utility tower the night of Jan. 7, 2025.
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“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 tower,” L.A. County Fire officials wrote in a statement announcing the report.
The report lists eight violations of state criminal and public utility codes, among others, that appear tied to SoCal Edison, but the details were redacted. The redactions are due to an ongoing review of the evidence by the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office.
Edison officials have said for months that one of its century-old transmission lines likely caused the fire, but the utility, facing multiple lawsuits, has denied full responsibility for the fire, including financially, in court. It has, however offered an opt-in payout program for fire victims.
In its annual report, company representatives told shareholders the utility acted as a “reasonable” operator before the fire, despite failing to upkeep its aging infrastructure. The Times has reported extensively on this SoCal Edison infrastructure where the fire started, including how the area was known as a potential fire hazard.
Dave Eisenhaurer, a spokesperson for SoCal Edison, said the company is reviewing the report.
“We have taken our potential role in the start of this fire seriously from the beginning,” Eisenhauer said. “Our hearts are with the Altadena community, and we continue to support them as they recover and rebuild through our Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program.”
While defending itself in litigation from fire victims, the utility is also embroiled in a lawsuit against L.A. County and other water providers, which the company claims also share a role in the fire’s toll. Among its claims, it pointed to the county’s delayed evacuation alerts that came, for many in west Altadena, after the fire had already threatened the area.
Mira Hashmall, an attorney representing L.A. County in the lawsuit with Edison, said Tuesday’s report makes clear where blame lies for the Eaton fire.
“The experts have now confirmed what Edison knew all along,” Hashmall said in a statement. “The Eaton Fire started due to Edison’s dilapidated equipment igniting a fire in a brush covered area that Edison was responsible for maintaining ... Enough of Edison’s strategy of delaying justice for the victims of the fire and blaming first responders despite their best efforts to protect lives and property.”
Joy Chen, leader of the Every Fire Survivor’s Network, also wants to see SoCal Edison take full responsibility and compensate fire survivors. Chen used Tuesday’s findings as an opportunity to try to push back on an effort in Sacramento that she said would provide a “bailout” to utilities responsible for catastrophic wildfires.
The report provided a breakdown of the investigative process that determined SoCal Edison’s equipment was the source of the fateful spark, which exploded in dry brush in extreme Santa Ana winds.
According to the report, investigators were almost immediately drawn to the transmission towers located in a wash within Eaton Canyon, based off what witnesses had reported and evidence on the ground.
Video evidence from the area “revealed two electrical arcing events that occurred in quick succession, leading to an unknown burning material falling from the SCE tower’s location into the dry receptive fuel bed below,” the report said. Within 12 seconds, the brush below the tower ignited and developed into the conflagration that would burn more than 14,000 acres, destroy more than 9,400 buildings and take 24 days to fully contain.
The fire was one of several that broke out during the extreme Santa Ana wind event. It ignited just hours after the deadly Palisades fire had erupted, together becoming the most destructive natural disaster in Los Angeles County history.
Rep. Judy Chu, D-Monterey Park, whose district includes Altadena, called the findings “an important step toward accountability and justice for the survivors, their families, and our communities who have endured unimaginable loss.”
She said SoCal Edison needs to now “take every step necessary to help Altadena and Pasadena rebuild, and to ensure a tragedy like this never happens again.”
But she also used the moment to call on President Trump and congressional Republicans to fulfill their commitment to fire survivors by unlocking the federal disaster aid California has requested. She called those funds key to her constituents’ “long road to recovery.”
The investigation was done by the L.A. County Fire Department’s arson investigation unit, alongside Cal Fire.
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(Staff writer Melody Petersen contributed to this report.)
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