Mother of woman killed in Eaton Fire sues California utility

By Laila Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The mother of a woman who was killed the Los Angeles-area Eaton (NYSE:) Fire on Friday sued Southern California Edison in what may be the first death-related case brought against the electric utility in connection with the disaster.

Multiple fires that began to burn and quickly spread across Los Angeles in strong Santa Ana wind gusts last week have killed more than two dozen people and charred some 40,000 acres of the second-largest U.S. metro area.

While official investigators have not released the cause of the Eaton Fire near Pasadena, SCE has fielded a growing number of lawsuits accusing the utility’s equipment of sparking the initial flames.

Altadena resident Evelyn Cathirell sued SCE for wrongful death after the remains of her daughter, Evelyn “Petey” McClendon were found in their shared home after it was destroyed by the blaze.

“Petey’s final hours were filled with chaos and panic,” said the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. “The surroundings were straight out of a disaster movie with embers blowing freely in the wind, spot fires sprouting up in all directions, and a ceaseless wind.”

Cathirell’s legal action follows multiple lawsuits filed against SCE this week by residents and business owners with destroyed property.

Late Thursday night, attorneys for a woman who lost her home in the Los Angeles-area Eaton Fire filed an emergency request for SCE to preserve additional electrical equipment to be examined in blaze investigations, court filings show.

Evangeline Iglesias, who is among those suing SCE after her Altadena home was decimated in the inferno, asked the Los Angeles Superior Court to halt efforts by SCE to destroy some distribution lines and other electrical equipment in the burn area, according to court documents.

A spokesperson with SCE said the company is focused on restoring power to affected areas. The company said it is aware of lawsuits related to the Eaton Fire and will review them.

SCE, which is the main subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE:), previously said it preserved some power equipment to be examined in fire investigations.

The law firm representing Iglesias, Edelson PC, said in the filings that SCE told the firm in letters that it planned to imminently remove physical power infrastructure in the burn area unless told specifically which equipment to keep.

That level of specificity, Edelson argued in its emergency request to the court, was unreasonable, “particularly where most or all of that evidence is owned by SCE and where SCE has unique knowledge of the fire’s origin and spread,” the filings showed.

Multiple investigations into the cause of the Eaton and Palisades fires — the two most destructive fires in California — are ongoing.