A downed power line owned by public utility company Edison International may have caused the Hurst Fire, company officials said in a press release Sunday.
The damaged line was found in the area around the time when the blaze is believed to have started, about 10:10 p.m. Tuesday, according to Southern California Edison.
SCE, a subsidiary of the $25 billion company Edison International, added that it is unclear whether the line fell before or after the blaze broke out.
The Hurst Fire burning in the hills above Sylmar on Jan. 8, 2024. Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The Hurst Fire may have been caused by a downed power line owned by Edison International, according to the company. Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesSo far, the Hurst Fire has torn through nearly 800 acres along the outskirts of Santa Clarita.
The fallen line was found at the Eagle Rock Sylmar 220 kV circuit, the company said. It noted that all the findings so far are still preliminary.
In the days leading up to the first wildfire outbreaks in the Pacific Palisades, malfunctions along the Los Angeles power grid were popping up erratically.
Bob Marshall, the chief executive of Whisker Labs, a company that monitors electrical activity, told Fox News that his group’s collected data showed that many lines were not powered down after the surges, which could’ve caused the wires to spark nearby tree limbs.
The Hurst Fire has burned through more than 800 acres so far. Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesThe Pacific Palisades area saw 63 such malfunctions, or faults, two to three hours before its wildfire ignited, with 18 more coming just an hour before it started Tuesday.
The Eaton Fire just outside of Altadena saw a staggering 317 grid faults in the hours before the blaze, Marshall said.
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The three fires still burning in LA as of Tuesday — Hurst, Palisades and Eaton — and the acreage they have burned. New York PostThe Hurst Fire saw around 230 faults. It is unclear how many of these, if any, were from SCE power sources.
Marshall noted that companies typically see very few faults daily, rarely nearing the hundreds.
