Did you know that electrical utility equipment started the Eaton fire in Los Angeles?

[msc545]

Contrary to what Trump and the right wing said, Edison equipment started this fire in LA. Stop listening to right-wing Trump supporters who make everything political.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/26/us/los-angeles-eaton-fire-cause.html

[Caroline91]

Yes. And that is a very common way for fires to start there, especially with high wind conditions that can blow the wires down. All electrical things need to be underground there and should have been for a long time now.

[msc545]

Yes, but they won't be, since doing that or just maintaining the lines would cut into Edison's sacred profits.

[Caroline91]

I know and that is a huge problem. The only answer I can see is to hold them financially liable to a degree that hurts if they don't do it.

[msc545]

PG&E was held financially responsible, and they got out of it by declaring bankruptcy, and they are now trying to pass on the costs of that to their customers...

[Caroline91]

When it comes down to it, it really will depend on the courts.

[msc545]

The courts in the US are nearly always on the side of money.

[Anonymous]

Doesn’t surprise me in the slightest because a faulty electrical utility pole led to a Wildfire in Texas that cost Conservative Farmers’ their livelihood with cattle being slaughtered & acres of farmland ruined…. The company CEO apologized and took accountability though didn’t pay back the farmers and the state of Texas didn’t help them at all to rebuild or hold the CEO / company accountable.

[Opinion Owner]

I believe this is the video that I got that information from (Texas Utility Pole Wildfire) https://youtu.be/4Jstm__qbCk?feature=shared

[Sevenpointfive]

so they had the perfect scapegoat already to take the blame. how fucking convenient

[msc545]

well no. There are videos of downed high-tension lines arcing right next to where the fire started. Hardly arranged ahead of time...

[Sevenpointfive]

you mean hardly planned before or after the fire? is there a timeline for your evidence?

[msc545]

Let's not do the paranoid theory stuff here, ok? There is no evidence it was deliberate.

[Sevenpointfive]

i don't believe it. if you said it was only for eaton then maybe? but you can't have several other fires in the same area and blame the same thing because that's just not true and it makes the original explanation seem suspect.

[msc545]

At this point it is only the Eaton fire.

[Sevenpointfive]

i can accept that

[msc545]

There have been no reports of any other fires that were allegedly started by utility equipment as yet, but that may still occur if that is what fire department experts determine. The utility company that is probably responsible for the Eaton fire has a long and very bad history of not maintaining their lines appropriately, and that has caused many fires. We will see.

[Sevenpointfive]

that's unfortunate. utilizing a company that is nationwide and yet it's filed bankruptcy. very sketchy and bad for everyone

[msc545]

This is mostly a local company. Southern California Edison.

[Sevenpointfive]

my bad if that's true. i read it had further reachings. maybe a parent company?

[msc545]

There is a parent company, but I forget who as they are not mentioned much.

[Sevenpointfive]

and those are the rabbit holes that need to be investigated to understand the truth. but don't rely on most journalists today to investigate.

[msc545]

Edison International is the parent company.

[Sevenpointfive]

why would this HUGE! company have a local branch go bankrupt right before this happens? and along with the insurance companies dropping all clients? how are you supposed to think this wasn't planned?

[Anonymous]

Why wasn’t there any water available for the fire department?

[msc545]

Overdemand. Not a shortage of water, a shortage of water pressure.

[msc545]

It does not matter how much water is available if there is literally no pressure to deliver it. Kind of like what happens when you are in the shower and someone flushes a toilet. Instant overdemand.

[Anonymous]

Altadena was special. It will never be the same.

[KrakenAttackin]

I would not trust the NYT for any factual discussion, which is unfortunate. I remember when the "gray lady" was a credible news source.

[msc545]

I understand, but this is supported by a lot of video, and a lack of any denial or rebuttal by the utility.

[KrakenAttackin]

The utility seems to have started a shit ton of fires, seemingly every year. WTF is going on? Here in Georgia the utilities spend quite a bit of time trimming trees and foliage away from power lines, and GA is the most heavily wooded state East of the Mississippi river. What's going on in Cali?

[msc545]

We have laws about this here that require the utility to to maintain power lines in the ways you have described, but the laws are poorly enforced if at all since the utilities have a ton of money, and politicians are afraid to oppose them in any fashion at all. Utilities do not want to do much maintenance since it costs a lot and cuts into their profits.

Now the utilities simply shut off power to everyone if they think there is a fire risk, but that also costs them money in lost revenue, so they often do it far too late and far less often than really needed, and in fairness, they get a lot of complaints about it when they do it.

[KrakenAttackin]

Isn't there fantastic liability for repeatedly starting massive fires?

[msc545]

There is tremendous potential liability given the amount of damage the fires do and the huge costs of containing and extinguishing them. However, utility companies would apparently prefer to resort to bankruptcy as a way of mitigating these problems as opposed to not causing them to begin with. I know that seems counterintuitive, but I don't have a better explanation for their behavior. Here is the AI response to this:

Key reasons why utility companies might not do "more" to prevent fires:

Costly upgrades:
Replacing old power lines, implementing advanced safety features, and burying lines underground can be very expensive, which can impact customer rates and shareholder returns.

Maintenance challenges:
Inspecting and maintaining a large network of power lines spread across diverse terrain can be complex and time-consuming.

Weather dependence:
Extreme weather events like high winds, heavy snow, and lightning storms can damage power lines and increase fire risk, even with proper maintenance.

Regulatory limitations:
While regulations exist, they may not always be stringent enough to force utilities to undertake the most proactive fire prevention measures.

I think the comment about "shareholder returns" is the most salient of all. No CEO wants to be responsible for doing something to reduce shareholder wealth. Better to start fires, apparently.

[NathanDavis]

nope... but just as many other fires

[Anonymous]

What did Trump say started them?