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A power company being investigated as a possible ignition point for some of the deadly Los Angeles wildfires has defended its decision to keep electrical transmission lines open right before they broke out — because life-threatening winds were just 1 mph below the cutoff.
Steven Powell, the CEO of Southern California Edison — which is already facing lawsuits over the fires — insisted that the winds blowing through Eaton Canyon on Jan. 7 weren’t strong enough to warrant de-energizing the transmission line, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Winds normally have to reach 60 to 80 mph in order for the company to shut down the lines, but the weather last week fell short of that threshold, Powell said Wednesday, without elaborating on exactly how low the readings were.
However, the weather service recorded wind gusts of 59 mph — just 1 mph below the cutoff — around the same time the devastating Eaton Fire was first reported at about 6 p.m., the LA paper noted.
Higher wind gusts of up to 63 mph were recorded in the region just hours earlier, according to weather service data. After the fire started spreading rapidly, winds gusts reached as high as 70 mph.
It wasn’t immediately clear how strong the wind readings were where Edison’s electrical tower is located.
Still, Powell argued that the company’s data showed zero abnormalities in the 12 hours before the Eaton Fire broke out, destroying huge areas of the Altadena region just north of LA.
Investigators haven’t yet confirmed what sparked the Eaton Fire, which has already destroyed roughly 7,000 structures and killed at least 16.
The company has already been slapped with a handful of lawsuits alleging its electrical equipment started the blaze after eyewitnesses spotted flames at the base of the company’s transmission tower.
Footage of the alleged sparks have been circulating on social media as the wildfires continue to rage.
Powell said he understood the frustrations of locals — and admitted his heart sank when he saw the now-viral videos.
“My heart sank because you see that, and immediately you have to, you know, anybody’s mind would if they saw that was the beginning stages of the fire … from there you can’t see anything else around, your mind will go [to thinking it was caused by Edison electrical equipment] absolutely,” he said.
