(Reuters) – The County of Los Angeles and City of Pasadena, along with other public entities, filed lawsuits against Edison International and its subsidiary Southern California Edison (SCE) on Wednesday, alleging their role in igniting one of California’s worst wildfires.
The Eaton fire, one of the major fires that began in early January in the foothills east of Los Angeles, scorched more than 14,000 acres, nearly the size of Manhattan, and led to dozens of deaths. Authorities have yet to release an official cause for the major fires, including the Eaton blaze.
The County of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Flood Control District, the Consolidated Fire Protection District of Los Angeles County, the City of Pasadena and the City of Sierra Madre filed lawsuits seeking compensation for damages to public resources and infrastructure caused by fire.
“The lawsuits seek to hold Southern California Edison responsible for this devastating fire and recover the critical infrastructure and taxpayer resources that the fire destroyed,” said Ed Diab, a founding partner of Diab Chambers representing the public entities, in a statement.
The lawsuits, like others faced by the utility, cite eyewitness accounts and images that show a fire at the base of a transmission tower owned by SCE prior to the rapid spread of the flames by powerful wind gusts.
Edison International did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Shares of the company have fallen nearly 30% since the onset of the fires.
The lawsuits state that while the extent of damages and losses from the Eaton Fire and its aftermath are still being assessed, they are expected to be at least hundreds of millions of dollars.
In its fourth-quarter earnings release, Edison International said it had not yet concluded whether its equipment was associated with the Eaton fire.
(Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
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