The number of power grid failures near three of Los Angeles County’s major fires spiked in the hours before the fires started, according to a company that monitors electrical activity.
Whisker Institute CEO Bob Marshall said in an interview with the Times that areas near the Eaton, Palisades and Hearst fires experienced a significant increase in faulting in the hours leading up to the fires. Ta. Power grid failures are caused by tree branches hitting power lines or wires hitting each other. Each failure causes a spark.
In all, the fires destroyed or damaged more than 9,000 structures. Power equipment has caused destructive wind-driven wildfires in the past in California, but Los Angeles city and county fire officials said investigators have not determined the cause of the fires.
“What I can’t say is that one of these defects caused the fire. We don’t know,” Marshall said in an interview. “But it only takes one person to start a fire.”
Data shared with the Times, which has not yet been made public, showed an increase in disability.
In the area of the Palisades fire, there were 25 outages on the power grid in the hour before the fire started. According to data from Whisker Labs, there were 18 failures within the first hour of the fire.
The Eaton Fire had more flaws. There were 50 defects in the area in the hour the fire broke out.
The Hearst Fire had 51 deficiencies at the time the fire was reported. This occurred after 4 hours of high failure levels. There have been 120 outages in the last 4 hours.
This means that even though sparks were flying in the area, the energy remained on for the previous four hours.
“What we do know is that the power lines were not turned off before the fire started,” Marshall said. “The problem is that the utility companies don’t have the sensors to know that this is happening. This sensor network is sophisticated and sensitive. We have more information than they do. Our goal is to get power companies to pay attention to the data because knowing when the grid is under stress is valuable.”
In all three regions, deficiencies were minimal in the days leading up to the fires, with only a few incidents occurring.
Whisker Labs monitors electrical data using Ting sensors that monitor approximately 14,000 homes in the Los Angeles area. The monitors help Angelenos stop electrical fires in their homes, but together they provide information about the entire power grid.
“So when something bad happens on the power grid, like a power outage or a surge, we know because it’s measured by a lot of sensors,” Marshall said.
U.S. Forest Service Angeles National Forest Fire Chief Robert Garcia said at a news conference that the cause of the Eaton Fire is still under investigation, but there are many factors to consider.
“There are various activities going on, [Eaton Canyon]” Garcia said. “The public was there when the incident happened. And there were power lines. [that] I’ll run through it. So we have a team that is looking at everything [possible starts]”
Los Angeles fire officials said the cause of the Palisades fire was also still under investigation.
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