The deadly blaze that devastated the Altadena neighborhood in Los Angeles County early last year was ignited by a transmission tower belonging to the utility company Southern California Edison, fire officials said in a report released on Tuesday.
The county’s fire department said the blaze, known as the Eaton fire, which killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,400 buildings, was started by electrical sparks coming off the tower, according to a joint investigation by the department and Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency. The tower was out of service at the time.
Though Edison had previously acknowledged that its equipment most likely started the Eaton fire, the cause had not been officially confirmed.
Fire officials took 18 months to review evidence with experts, including video footage that showed “an unknown burning material” falling from the tower to the dry fuel bed below in the Eaton Canyon area, according to the report. The blaze ignited about 12 seconds later, officials said, quickly spreading into the surrounding neighborhoods, where it burned homes, businesses and schools.
Anthony C. Marrone, the county fire chief, said in a statement on Tuesday that he recognized that no investigation could ease the pain of residents affected by the Eaton fire.
“While the cause has been determined, our focus remains on assisting our residents to rebuild their homes and livelihoods, and ensuring lessons learned drive meaningful and impactful change in memory of the 19 lives lost,” Chief Marrone said.
On Tuesday, Kathleen Dunleavy, a spokeswoman for Southern California Edison, acknowledged the findings.
“We have taken our potential role in the start of this fire seriously from the beginning,” she said.
In a recent earnings call, company officials noted that their equipment was likely associated with the fire, she said, but they have also pointed out that wildfires of the Eaton fire’s magnitude “are rarely the result of a single factor.”
