Evacuation Delay, Edison Probed After Deadly Wildfire

Nearly five months after the Eaton fire killed 18 people — 17 of them in west Altadena — investigations continue into what went wrong.

Mounting evidence suggests that human error, rather than a technical malfunction, was at the heart of the failure to issue timely evacuation alerts on Jan. 7 to residents in the hardest-hit area, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors launched an independent probe, led by the McChrystal Group, following public outrage and investigative reporting by the Times.

County officials have refused to release substantive findings after citing the ongoing inquiry, but officials and experts increasingly point to a breakdown in communication between emergency management, fire and sheriff departments.

County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and other leaders have acknowledged the delays, but say they still lack a full explanation.

Meanwhile, alert software provider Genasys has publicly stated that the failure was not technological. Internal records also revealed that only one person was responsible for issuing alerts for three concurrent fires that night, raising concerns over resource allocation and preparedness.

Community frustration has grown, particularly in west Altadena, a historically Black and Latino neighborhood. Lifelong resident Marisol Espino, who lost her family home, voiced deep mistrust in the official response and noted how her community has long felt overlooked.

“There was nothing telling us we were in danger,” she told the Times.

Compounding public anger is a new shareholder lawsuit against Rosemead-based Edison International, parent company of Southern California Edison, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The complaint, filed in federal court last week, accuses Edison executives of misleading investors about wildfire risk mitigation efforts and downplaying the company’s role in the fire’s ignition.

The complaint alleges that the company’s assurances of an 85 percent wildfire risk reduction were false and that key safety measures were inadequately implemented or delayed.

The lawsuit also criticizes the utility’s early statements that its equipment did not cause the fire, suggesting they were intentionally misleading. Pedro Pizarro, CEO of Edison, later identified the suspected ignition source as a decades-old transmission line that had been reenergized.

As investigations into both the evacuation failure and fire origin continue, many residents remain skeptical that real accountability will follow.

With the next update from McChrystal Group not expected until July, community leaders are calling for local resilience — and demanding long-overdue answers.

— Dana Bartholomew