LA County Prosecutors Investigate Possible Criminal Charges Against Edison Over the Eaton Fire
LA County prosecutors are investigating whether the Eaton Fire was the foreseeable result of decisions Edison made – or failed to make – about known wildfire risks. Current evidence points to the fire being caused by a century-old transmission line in Eaton Canyon, dormant for over 50 years, reenergized and ignited by swinging power lines of two neighboring live towers that surged and arched in the windstorm the night of January 7, 2025. Edison has said it left the transmission tower in place because it expected it might be used in the future. But the risk of idle transmission infrastructure is not hypothetical: investigators traced the 2019 Kincade Fire to a PG&E transmission line that was no longer in service, putting utilities on notice that “unused” lines can still start catastrophic wildfires. Layer onto that the LA Times’ reporting that Edison had fallen behind on transmission maintenance before the Eaton Fire, and the picture prosecutors may be examining is whether the company ignored a known hazard and failed to take reasonable preventive steps, potentially crossing from civil negligence into criminal exposure.