Billion dollar energy company Edison International investigated over possible LA fire link

Energy company Edison International is under investigation for a possible connection to one of the wildfires currently raging through Los Angeles.

The $25 billion company said it had discovered a downed conductor in a tower near where the Hurst Fire broke out Tuesday evening after an intense storm in Santa Ana.

However, Edison said it does not know whether the damage occurred before or after the fire, which has so far destroyed nearly 800 hectares of land.

The conductor was found on the Eagle Rock Sylmar 220 kV circuit, the company said press release on Sunday, adding that the findings were preliminary.

Edison International market capitalization has already fallen by $5.73 billion in the past week – from $30.89 billion on January 3 to $25.16 billion today.

The wildfires have put pressure on the shares of energy, utility and insurance companies more broadly, sending the stock market into disarray. Edison shares fell 10 percent on Wednesday and 6.5 percent on Friday.

It comes as speculation swirls about what could have caused the worst cluster of wildfires ever seen in the United States, and Los Angelinos, who have lost everything, are demanding answers.

It comes as speculation swirls about what could have caused the worst cluster of wildfires ever seen in the United States, and Los Angelinos, who have lost everything, demand answers

The $25 billion company said it had discovered a downed conductor at a tower. (Image: Pedro J. Pizarro, CEO of Edison International, tours a fuel storage facility in California with U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and U.S. Representative Mike Levin in 2022)

Outages on LA’s power grid increased dramatically earlier this week. Bob Marshall, the CEO of Whisker Labs, a company that monitors electrical activity, told Fox News that the company saw spikes in the hours before each of the fires.

Marshall said records show that power was not immediately turned off after the outages increased, and that they may have been caused by “tree branches hitting wires or wires blowing in the wind and touching each other.”

“That creates a spark in an error, and we detect all these things,” Marshall said. Faulty electrical equipment, a sudden increase in electrical demand or earthquakes are also possible causes of the surges.

In the hardest-hit Pacific Palisades area, there were 63 faults in the two to three hours before the fire broke out, including 18 in the hour before the fire started Tuesday.

The Eaton Fire, near Altadena, saw 317 power outages in the hours before ignition, Marshall said, and the Hurst Fire saw about 230 outages. On a normal day, he said the company records very few.

Although investigators have yet to determine the cause of the fires, the faults in the power grid raise the possibility that sparks from the faults will ignite parched vegetation, with high winds carrying the embers across the region.

The Hurst Fire is burning through San Fernando in Los Angeles County. The fire was 89 percent contained as of 2 p.m. Sunday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

It is one of the three main active fires, although the other two are even larger. The Eaton Fire had burned more than 40,000 acres north of Pasadena as of 2 p.m. Sunday and was only 27 percent contained.

Meanwhile, the Palisades Fire had burned nearly 24,000 acres during the same time and only 11 percent was contained.

So far, the California fires have killed at least 16 people, while wiping out an estimated 29,000 acres of land and 12,300 structures.

They have also caused about $57 billion in economic damage and forced 180,000 people to evacuate.

The fierce Santa Anas is largely blamed for turning last week’s wildfires into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods around the city, where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.

The National Weather Service has issued red flag warnings for severe fire conditions continuing Sunday through Wednesday, with sustained winds up to 50 mph and mountain gusts up to 70 mph.

Pictured: Pedro J. Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, speaks on stage at the 2023 New York Times Climate Forward Summit at The Times Center in New York in September 2023

Pictured: A firefighter watches defense against the Palisades wildfire in Los Angeles, California, USA, January 11, 2025

The most dangerous day will be Tuesday, according to weather service meteorologist Rich Thompson.

“You’re going to have some really strong Santa Ana wind gusts, a very dry atmosphere and still very dry brush, so we still have some very critical fire conditions,” Thompson said at a community meeting Saturday evening.

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone said 70 additional water trucks have arrived to help crews fend off flames spread by new gusts of wind. “We are prepared for the upcoming wind event,” he said.

Officials built an online database that allowed evacuated residents to see if their homes had been damaged or destroyed. In the meantime, LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley urged people to stay away from the scorched neighborhoods.

“There are still active fires in the Palisades area, making it extremely, extremely dangerous to the public,” Crowley said during a Sunday briefing.

‘There is no power, there is no water, there are broken gas pipes and we have unstable structures. First responders are working as quickly as possible to ensure it is safe for you to return to your community.”

Officials warned that the ash could contain lead, arsenic, asbestos and other harmful materials.

About 150,000 people in Los Angeles County remained under evacuation orders, while more than 700 residents took refuge in nine shelters, Luna said.

On Sunday morning, Cal Fire reported that the fires in Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and Hurst had destroyed more than 100 square miles, an area larger than San Francisco.