The mother of a woman who was killed Friday in the Los Angeles-area Eaton fire has sued Southern California Edison (SCE) in what could be the first death-related case brought against the utility public electricity company in connection with the disaster.
Multiple fires that began burning and spreading rapidly in Los Angeles last week amid strong wind gusts in Santa Ana have killed more than two dozen people and charred nearly 16,200 acres of the second-largest metropolitan area of the United States.
Although official investigators have not revealed the cause of the Eaton Fire near Pasadena, Calif., SCE has filed a growing number of lawsuits blaming the utility’s equipment for sparking the initial flames.
Altadena resident Evelyn Cathirell sued SCE for wrongful death after the remains of her daughter, Evelyn “Petey” McClendon, were found in their shared home after it was destroyed by the 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 growing in all directions and incessant wind.”
Several lawsuits filed
Cathirell’s lawsuit follows several lawsuits filed against SCE this week by residents and business owners whose properties were destroyed.
Late Thursday evening, attorneys for a woman who lost her home in the Los Angeles area’s Eaton Fire filed an emergency request for SCE to hold additional electrical equipment for examination as part of fire investigations, according to court documents.
Evangeline Iglesias, who is among those suing SCE after her Altadena home was burned in the inferno, has asked Los Angeles Superior Court to stop SCE’s efforts to destroy some distribution lines and other electrical equipment in the burned area, according to court documents.
An SCE spokesperson said the company was focused on restoring power to affected areas. The company said it was aware of the lawsuits related to the Eaton fire and would review them.
SCE, which is the main subsidiary of Edison International, previously said it had retained some electrical equipment for examination during fire investigations.
The law firm representing Iglesias, Edelson PC, said in filings that SCE had informed the firm in letters that it planned to imminently remove physical electrical infrastructure in the burned area unless it was told specifically indicates what equipment to keep.
This level of specificity, Edelson argued in his emergency request to the court, was unreasonable, “particularly when most or all of this evidence belongs to SCE and when SCE has unique knowledge of the origin and spread of the fire,” documents show.
Multiple investigations into the causes of the Eaton and Palisades fires – the two most destructive fires in California – are underway.
