In January 2025, the Palisade and Eaton fires were blazing across huge swaths of the greater Los Angeles area. Now we finally find out that the cause of the Eaton fire wasn’t arson like the Palisade fire. It was an electric transmission tower that was supposedly OUT OF SERVICE.

More than 18 months after it ignited and became one of the most destructive wildfires in U.S. history, authorities announced on Tuesday the cause of the 2025 Eaton Fire in Southern California.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection released a report blaming the Eaton Fire on electrical arcing events that took place on an out-of-service Southern California Edison (SCE) tower.

NINETEEN people died in that fire and over 9,000 homes and businesses burned to the ground. People are still either trying to rebuild, if LA County actually issues permits, or have moved. The families of the 19 people who were killed will never fully recover. This statement from a spokesperson from Southern California Edison is too little, too late.

The California utility company said it was “reviewing” the report.

“We received the LA County Fire report and are reviewing it. We have taken our potential role in the start of this fire seriously from the beginning. As we’ve previously said, SCE believes that it is likely that its equipment was associated with the ignition of the Eaton Fire,” David Eisenhauer, a spokesperson for Southern California Edison, told the Post.

“Our hearts are with the Altadena community, and we continue to support them as they recover and rebuild through our Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program,” he added.

Again, that’s very small comfort coming from a company who is supposed to maintain and monitor all transmission lines and towers on a regular basis! 

Fire investigators, using the NWCG investigative methodology, found that the area of the Eaton Fire origin was on the dry receptive fuel bed below the SCE transmission towers on the spur ridge above the Eaton Wash.

Pursuant to the California Public Utilities Code, SCE is to maintain and operate its electrical lines and equipment in a manner that would minimize the risk of catastrophic wildfire posed by them.

Let’s stop there for a minute. 

It is a fact that September through May is when the Santa Ana winds blow, putting the region at a higher risk for wildfires. One would think that SCE would have the transmission towers and lines checked on a VERY regular basis and tried to keep dry vegetation cut back from the towers or removed altogether. That doesn’t seem to have been done based upon the report. 

The full report laughably has Penal, Public Safety, Health, and Public Resource codes redacted. The actual tower number and the coordinates where the tower is located is also redacted. 

Even with those idiotic redactions, the report itself is damaging to SCE. It took a mere 12 seconds for the brush to ignite after the out of service transmission tower arc’d. 12 seconds that led to nearly 15,000 acres of brush, land, homes and businesses burning to the ground over the course of 14 days. 

LAcoFD and CAL FIRE published their Origin & Cause report for the Eaton Fire today, which concludes that the fire was caused by electrical arcing from SCE's transmission tower, which sent molten metal particles into dry vegetation at the base of the tower. We've known this since… pic.twitter.com/ZZirsX627S

— Alex “Trey” Robertson, Esq. (@415FirePhoto) August 4, 2026

Many, including myself, were wondering how an out of service transmission tower could cause arcing that would ignite a fire. 

If it was an "out of service" transmission tower, how was it able to have ELECTRIC ARCING events??!! Out of service would typically mean… turned OFF https://t.co/B9JwK5kV9Q

— Nina Bookout (@NDBook96) August 5, 2026

Evidently off doesn’t necessarily mean OFF for transmission towers and lines. And, it also depends upon the lines themselves. 

The Eaton fire was caused by electrical arcing on the utility’s out-of-service tower atop a ridge covered with dry fuel, the agency said in a statement. When bare, uninsulated wires touch or come close together it can cause arcing, which is when electricity jumps through the air, producing sparks.

Again, SCE is tasked by regulation to monitor all transmission lines and towers and work to mitigate any issues. Issues which also include LIVE transmission lines running along side the out of service transmission tower and lines. It’s called electric induction. 

Here’s another problem. Everyone, including Karen Bass, was WELL aware of the fire danger that week leading up to the Eaton and Palisades fires. A reservoir that could’ve saved many homes is still empty. And the power company didn’t even de-energize the power lines. Not only that, but very little brush clearing was done because some rabbit, bird, toad, or lizard might be harmed. 

LA TIMES: The % of homes surviving CA wildfires is DROPPING despite home-hardening efforts. Duh! City & state leaders let our infrastructure collapse, plus 50 years of flammable brush going unchecked all around us. They're not natural disasters, they're bureaucratic disasters. https://t.co/ZmD2VPB30l pic.twitter.com/mdhyPiBjHE

— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) August 4, 2026

Over 9000 homes and businesses burned to the ground. 19 people died. From the federal to the local level, bad management across the spectrum contributed to this disaster.

Senator Sheehy was a fire aviator & the only red-carded wildland firefighter in congress. You need to listen to him on the wildfire issue.
Eco-activists are hijacking the USFS fire budget, blocking firefighters from doing the work they need to do. HUGE problem. https://t.co/l698z4Q2eH

— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) August 5, 2026

Brush clearing is fire mitigation 101! Evidently SCE is not interested in budgeting and planning for that. 

Having the SCE pay lip service to those trying to recover from the fire by offering, eventually, money from their compensation program doesn’t help when the SCE is also pointing fingers at the LA County Emergency agency. 

SCE has claimed in lawsuits filed earlier this year that Los Angeles County emergency authorities failed to send timely evacuation warnings to residents in east and west Altadena. Most of the people who died in the fire lived in west Altadena.

Should there have been evacuation warnings issued earlier? Probably. Should the SCE have de-energized power lines? Absolutely. Should the SCE have planned and budgeted for brush mitigation around the towers? 100%. 

The Eaton Fire was a preventable tragedy. Southern California Edison along with too many in the LA and California government refuse to acknowledge that. 

Feature Photo Credit: wildfire burning under transmission lines and tower via iStock, cropped and modified