Utility Partly to Blame in Deadly CA Wildfire

Oct. 31 -- LOS ANGELES -- Southern California Edison on Tuesday said its electrical equipment likely sparked at least one starting point in the massive Thomas fire that ravaged Ventura and Santa Barbara counties late last year.

The utility said in a statement that witnesses reported a fire igniting along Koenigstein Road in Santa Paula near a Southern California Edison power pole and that the company “believes that its equipment was associated with this ignition.”

The company said investigators believe the massive wildfire had two starting points: Koenigstein Road and Anlauf Canyon in Ventura County.

Southern California Edison is “continuing to analyze the progression of the fire from the Koenigstein Road ignition point and the extent of damages that may be attributable to that ignition,” the company said in a statement. “SCE has not determined whether the Anlauf Canyon area ignition involved SCE equipment.”

The 281,893-acre Thomas fire ranks as the second-largest in California history, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. It killed two people and destroyed 1,063 structures.

Cal Fire has removed Southern California Edison equipment around both Koenigstein Road and Anlauf Canyon. The utility has not been able to inspect that equipment and “will not be able to determine the specific cause of the Koenigstein Road ignition until it can analyze the equipment currently in Cal Fire’s possession,” the company’s statement said.

In addition to investigations under way by fire authorities, the utility said it is conducting its own inquiry into the cause of the fire.

The company’s “ongoing internal review of the Thomas Fire is complex and examines various matters, including possible ignition points, the location of those ignition points, the fire progression from each ignition point and the attribution of damages to fires with separate ignition points,” the statement said.

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