Los Angeles County prosecutors are investigating whether Southern California Edison should face criminal charges for the devastating Eaton wildfire that killed 19 people and destroyed thousands of homes in Altadena last year.
Pedro Pizarro, chief executive of Edison International, revealed during a Wednesday conference call with Wall Street analysts that the company is cooperating with the district attorney’s office, though he said he didn’t know the full scope of the investigation. The disclosure came as Edison released its annual 10-K report to investors.
“SCE is not aware of any basis for felony liability with regards to the Eaton Fire,” the company stated in its filing. “Any fines and penalties incurred in connection with the Eaton Fire will not be recoverable from insurance, from the Wildfire Fund, or through electric rates.”
The January 7, 2025, blaze devastated a wide swath of the unincorporated community northwest of Pasadena. While the official investigation into the fire’s cause hasn’t been released, Pizarro has previously stated that a leading theory points to a century-old transmission line in Eaton Canyon that hadn’t carried power for approximately 50 years. Investigators believe this dormant line somehow reenergized and sparked the deadly blaze.
Edison executives have defended their decision not to remove the idle line, saying they believed it might be used in the future. However, company officials were aware that dormant transmission lines could trigger wildfires. In 2019, investigators traced the Kincade fire in Sonoma County to a transmission line owned by Pacific Gas & Electric that was no longer in service.
Despite dangerous Santa Ana wind conditions on the night of the fire, Edison decided not to shut down transmission lines running through Eaton Canyon. Pizarro has maintained that the winds didn’t meet the company’s threshold for power shutoffs at that time.
The utility now faces nearly 1,000 civil lawsuits from fire victims and government entities. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a separate civil suit against Edison in September, with the first bellwether trial scheduled for January 25, 2027.
If prosecutors decide to pursue criminal charges, it wouldn’t be unprecedented for a California utility. In 2020, Pacific Gas & Electric pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter and one felony count of unlawfully starting a fire in connection with the 2018 Camp fire that destroyed Paradise, California.
Edison has launched a compensation program offering payments to fire victims who give up their right to sue. Under California law, if a utility is determined to have acted reasonably, it can be reimbursed for damages through the state’s Wildfire Fund.
Pizarro told investors Wednesday that he continues to believe the company acted as a “reasonable utility operator” before the deadly fire.
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