Thursday, June 11, 2026

Lawyers Say New Edison Evidence Ties Idle Utility Line to Eaton Fire ignition

New surveillance video and other evidence from Southern California Edison show that a century-old, idle transmission line the utility failed to remove ignited the Eaton Fire, lawyers for property insurers said in a court filing, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The footage, captured by a security camera at the Gerrish Swim & Tennis Club in Pasadena, shows two bright flashes at the tower holding the idle line at 6:11 p.m. on Jan. 7, 2025, according to the Times. The flashes match the moment Edison recorded two faults, three seconds apart, on another transmission line more than five miles away, the lawyers said, citing new data from the utility.

Soon after, nearby residents recorded video of a fire burning at the base of the tower, designated M16T1, according to the Times.

The Eaton Fire ignited that evening above Eaton Canyon and tore through Altadena and parts of Pasadena, ultimately killing at least 19 people and destroying more than 9,400 structures. It ranks among the most destructive wildfires in California history.

The May 18 motion, filed by lawyers representing insurers that paid tens of millions of dollars to residents who lost homes, asks a judge to find Edison liable under inverse condemnation, a doctrine in the California Constitution, the Times reported. Courts have held that the doctrine requires private utilities to pay for property they destroy, even without a finding of negligence.

“Southern California Edison has spent the last sixteen months attempting to forestall the inevitable legal consequences of razing a large swath of the communities of Altadena and Pasadena to the ground,” the lawyers wrote, according to the Times. “The Eaton Fire could not have occurred if SCE had simply disassembled and removed Structure M16T1.”

Kathleen Dunleavy, an Edison spokeswoman, told the Times the company did not know the swim club video existed until the lawyers filed it.

“It’s very disappointing and inappropriate that this video was not produced in discovery,” she said, adding that she hoped it had been turned over to authorities.

Dunleavy said the motion “is wrong on the facts and the law” and that Edison would respond in its own filing. Attorneys for the insurers did not respond to the newspaper’s requests for comment.

In a February 2025 letter to state regulators, Edison said it detected a single fault on a line more than five miles from Altadena about 6:11 p.m. that caused a brief surge on its four live transmission lines in Eaton Canyon.

The company said it was examining whether the surge could have caused electricity to jump to the parallel idle line through a process called induction.
Edison has not accepted blame, saying its own confidential investigation and a separate inquiry by Los Angeles County and state fire officials are continuing.