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Energy experts said the decision by utility companies serving the area not to turn off many power lines during high winds had likely increased the risk of fires.
- Jan. 10, 2025Updated 10:51 p.m. ET
Power lines near the Eaton and Palisades fires in the Los Angeles area were on when those blazes started on Tuesday, which energy experts said was concerning because electrical equipment has often ignited infernos during periods of high wind in California and elsewhere.
It is not clear what ignited the fires ravaging Southern California, and investigators are likely to take months to come to any firm conclusions. But the fact that utility lines stayed on during unusually dry and very windy conditions suggests they could have played at least some role in spreading the fires, energy industry experts said.
Power lines and other utility equipment have been identified as the cause of several major fires in recent years, including California’s most deadly, the 2018 Camp fire, which killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise. Other fires that were linked to electrical equipment include the 2023 fire in Maui, Hawaii, and a 2020 blaze near Oregon’s coast.
One of the most concerning details to emerge since the fires began is that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest municipal utility in the country, does not have a program in place to pre-emptively shut off power in urban areas when fire risk is elevated. California’s investor-owned utilities have had such programs in place for years.
The city’s utility, which serves the Pacific Palisades enclave, where most homes have been destroyed, does not use remote power shut-off systems to cut off electricity to customers, according to an analysis of the department’s fire prevention plan by Robert McCullough, an electric utility consultant based in Portland, Ore. He described the utility’s plan as “woefully inadequate.”
“L.A.D.W.P.’s documents are primarily public relations with little of the advancements in wildfire prevention and response seen throughout the industry,” Mr. McCullough said.
