Southern California gets much-needed rain after weeks of fire, but toxic ash and mudslides a concern
Video footage of spark on utility line cited in lawsuit on cause of Eaton Fire
The first significant storm of the season brought snow and downpours to Southern California that doused wildfires and caused some ash and mud to flow across streets in the Los Angeles area on Monday.
More than an 2.5 centimetres of rain fell in many areas, loosening Los Angeles hillsides burned bare by the recent blaze near the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood, where crews cleared inundated roadways including the famed Pacific Coast Highway. In neighbouring Malibu, four schools were closed Monday "due to dangerous road conditions," the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District said in a statement.
Clouds were clearing, but flood watches from lingering pockets of rain were still in effect for fire-scarred areas of the Palisades, Altadena and Castaic Lake.
"All these fresh burns are very susceptible to rapid runoff," said Joe Sirard, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service's office for Los Angeles.
Parts of San Diego County received more than 2.5 centimetres of rain, while other areas got less.
Returning residents urged to wear protective gear
The rain began Saturday after months of dry and often gusty weather that created dangerous fire conditions. Los Angeles County crews spent much of last week removing vegetation, shoring up slopes and reinforcing roads in areas devastated by the Palisades and Eaton fires, which reduced entire neighbourhoods to rubble and ash after breaking out during powerful winds Jan. 7.
The rain ended a near-record streak of dry weather for Southern California. Most of Southern California is currently in "extreme drought" or "severe drought," according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Concerns about post-fire debris flows have been especially high since 2018, when the town of Montecito, up the coast from Los Angeles, was ravaged by mudslides after a downpour hit mountain slopes charred by a huge wildfire. Hundreds of homes were damaged and 23 people died.
Downpours in San Diego County helped firefighters make significant progress against the smaller Border 2 Fire churning through a remote area of the Otay Mountain Wilderness near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Los Angeles city and county officials last week expedited cleanup efforts and other measures aimed at mitigating the environmental impacts of fire-related pollutants.
Officials cautioned that ash in recent burn zones was a toxic mix of incinerated cars, electronics, batteries, building materials, paints, furniture and other household items. It contains pesticides, asbestos, plastics and lead.
Residents were urged to wear protective gear while cleaning up.
Pacific Palisades residents, effective Monday, were allowed to return home for the first time since the fire, although they are subject to a 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. curfew.
Eaton Fire video footage probed
The Palisades Fire, the largest of the blazes that destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 12 people, reached 94 per cent containment Monday.
The Hughes Fire, which ignited north of Los Angeles last week and caused evacuation orders or warnings for more than 50,000 people, was nearly contained.
Since it broke out on Jan. 7, the Eaton fire has scorched 57 square kilometres east of Los Angeles, destroyed 9,418 structures, damaged 1,073 structures and caused 17 deaths. It was 99 per cent contained as of Monday, according to California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Southern California Edison on Monday reported a fault on a power line connected kilometres away from ones located near the origin of the Eaton Fire.
Edison says that there is still no evidence that its equipment caused the blaze, which has destroyed more than 9,000 structures in and around the community of Altadena. The official investigation into the fire's cause has not been completed.
The utility's new filing with the California Public Utilities Commission comes on the same day as a court hearing in a case filed by attorneys for a homeowner whose property was destroyed in the fire. The attorneys allege the utility's equipment sparked the fire, pointing to video taken during the fire's early minutes that shows large flames beneath electrical towers.
The attorneys have now introduced new video they say shows arcing and electrical sparking on a transmission tower in Eaton Canyon just before the wind whipped the fire into a fast-moving and destructive blaze. They say the video came from security footage of a gas station.
In its new filing, Edison reported that the fault occurred at 6:11 p.m on Jan. 7. While those lines that experienced the fault do not traverse Eaton Canyon, they are connected to the system, which did experience a surge, the utility reported.
"The current increase remained within the design limits and operating criteria for these circuits and, as intended, did not trigger system protection on these lines," the utility said.
Kathleen Dunleavy, a spokesperson for Southern California Edison, said the company received the footage of the gas station video from the New York Times, which published a report on the weekend on the fire's origins, and contacted authorities to ensure they had the video as well. She said it was premature for them to comment on the footage as experts investigated what caused the blaze.
Attorneys for Altadena resident Evangeline Iglesias argued that, together, the fault and gas station video provide "evidence that SCE's equipment in Eaton Canyon was the source of the initial ignition, and there is a near-certainty that physical evidence of the cause exists somewhere along the SCE transmission lines that run parallel to the line on the tower that erupted in flame."
Video and photos taken by residents also captured flames beneath Edison's electrical towers in the Eaton Canyon area in the early minutes of the fire. One resident said he heard a loud pop at the outset of the conflagration.