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California fire officials have repeatedly warned Southern California Edison to improve weather tracking to prevent wind fires, but they maintained that efforts met global standards before the Eton fire.
State officials first told utilities in 2022 that more frequent weather tracking was important to increase Edison’s “situational awareness” when deciding whether to cut off electricity to prevent fires.
The warning may have been foresightful, as was the case hours before the Eton fire, according to company officials, but the weather tracking system did not detect winds severe enough to deserve to close the transmission system where the fire began.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but authorities suspect that extreme Santa Ana winds operated raw power lines close enough to activate the nearby long line of idles. Surveillance video captured two flashes on top of the tower at the edge of Edison’s idle mesa-Silmer Line. Other videos show that the fire began at the base of the tower.
“In strong winds, another power line may have come too close to this deadline,” said Ken Basket, a veteran electrician and fire investigator.
A sudden power surge to the deadline could overheat and spark at the failed ground connection of the tower at the edge of its idle line, he said.
One fire expert said Edison’s practice of checking wind conditions every 10 minutes could have made him vulnerable to such disasters.
“Santa Anna and the Fire Environment in Southern California – it’s one of the most challenging fire environments in the world,” said Scott Stevens, a professor of fire science in Berkeley, California.
He says wind monitoring is becoming more important in studies showing Santa Ana’s wind blowing harder and then during fire season.
“These winds were very high,” Stevens said in the time it took to the fire.
Stevens says that in these extreme conditions, 10 minutes of weather surveillance may not have been enough to understand the threat.
“In many cases, it just lets you get away with the gust of wind. The gust of wind is there and disappears if you take another measurement.”
Three years before the fire, the Department of Energy Infrastructure Safety Administration began warning Edison about its 10-minute tracking rate. Authorities told the utility that the utility used twice the frequency of its north and south rate was “far lower” for 10 minutes, tracking winds twice a minute.
“This centre here can monitor the weather at an unprecedented level,” said a weather expert at PG&E when the 30-second weather tracking system was rolled out in 2021.
In the latest assessment of Edison’s wildfire plan, state officials reiterated concern that the 10-minute follow-up frequency could limit its “situational awareness” to extremes from climate change.
Edison told the state’s fire safety officer last October that for now he would continue to use the 10-minute standard that captured gusts of wind lasting for three seconds, in line with guidance from global weather organizations.
In a statement, Edison said he tried to “mitigate” the weather tracking issue that was flagged by authorities in 2022. It said it was “satisfied” with the efforts the state had when it ratified its latest wildfire plan. Records show that they signed Edison’s plan, but state regulators stated that the utility’s weather tracking levels needed to be “continuously improved.”
The risk of fires in Southern California has been alleviated thanks to recent rain, but as new fire season approaches, Socal Edison continues to update the weather every 10 minutes, with North and South utilities getting them twice a minute.
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