Downed power lines may have caused Palisades wildfire in Los Angeles, lawsuit claims
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The residents are seeking damages including costs of repairing or replacing properties.
PHOTO: AFP
LOS ANGELES - Several residents of Los Angeles who were affected by the deadly Palisades wildfire sued city authorities over claims that municipal utility power lines ignited the fire, according to a lawsuit filed on March 24.
The suit cited a Washington Post article dated Jan 12, in which the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power told the newspaper its power lines near the origin of the fire had been disconnected from the electricity system for five years, which the residents’ lawyers said was incorrect.
The Los Angeles city’s counsel admitted last week the statement given to Washington Post was incorrect and that the line was energised at the time of the fire, the lawsuit added.
“That statement was a result of a misunderstanding. The line had been de-energised for several years before the fire, but as we said in our prior correspondence, it was energised at the time the fire ignited. There were no faults on the line around the time the fire ignited,” the lawsuit quoted Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s lawyer as telling the plaintiff’s lawyers.
The lawsuit also claimed that two major reservoirs critical to fighting the fire, Santa Ynez and Chautauqua, were drained by the department prior to the fire to forgo proper maintenance as a cost-savings decision.
The residents are seeking damages including costs of repairing or replacing properties.
The Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles, along with Altadena on the eastern flank of the metropolis, were the sites of the worst of the January fires. At least 29 people died in the fires, which damaged or destroyed more than 16,000 structures.
A similar lawsuit was filed against the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power by residents of the city in January accusing the public utility of failing to properly manage water supplies critical to fighting the fires.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours. REUTERS
