The anger of Eaton wildfire survivors over Southern California Edison laying power lines in Altadena boiled over Tuesday, with residents calling on government officials to temporarily halt the work.
In a letter to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, more than 120 Altadena residents and the city council wrote that they have witnessed “clear failures” by Edison in recent months as it has been tearing up roads and digging trenches to bury wires.
Residents cited the unexpected financial cost of the work to homeowners and potential damage to the city’s remaining trees. He also described how the work would leave telecommunications wires on poles high above the ground.
“The current lack of coordination is increasing the stress on a community still grappling with the Eaton Fire, and risking further irreparable damage,” residents wrote.
The council voted unanimously Tuesday night to send the letter.
Edison spokesman Scott Johnson said Wednesday the company is working to address the concerns, including looking at other sources of funding to help homeowners pay the costs.
“We recognize that this community has already faced many challenges,” he said.
Johnson said the company will allow homeowners to keep existing overhead lines connecting their homes to the grid if they are concerned about costs.
Edison employees are also trained to use equipment that avoids roots and maintains the health of trees, Johnson said.
The utility has said burying wires will make the electrical grid safer and more reliable as the city rebuilds thousands of homes destroyed in the fire.
But anger has grown as work crews arrived unexpectedly and residents learned they would have to pay thousands of dollars to connect buried lines to their homes.
Residents have also found crews digging under the town’s oak and pine trees that survived last year’s fire. Arborists say the trenches could destroy the roots of the few remaining trees and kill them.
Amy Bodek, the county’s regional planning director, recently warned Edison that a state ordinance protects oak trees and “utility trenching is not exempt from these requirements.”
Residents have also pointed out that in much of Altadena, telecommunications companies, including Spectrum and AT&T, have not agreed to bury their wires in Edison’s trenches. This means telecommunications wires will remain on poles above ground, which residents say is not visually appealing.
The residents wrote, “While our community supports the long-term benefits of relocating utilities underground, the current execution by SCE is placing an undue financial and planning burden on homeowners, causing irreparable damage to our heritage tree canopy, and is proceeding without adequate local oversight.”
They want the project to be put on hold until the problems are resolved.
Edison announced last year that it would spend $925 million to underground and rebuild its grid in Altadena and Malibu, where the Palisades fire caused devastation.
The work – which is estimated to cost $4 million per mile – will net the utility millions of dollars in profits as its electric customers pay for it over the next decades.
Edison International Chief Executive Pedro Pizarro told Gov. Gavin Newsom last year that under state utility rules Altadena and Malibu homeowners would have to pay to bury an electrical wire underground from their property line to their home panel. Pizarro estimated each house would cost $8,000 to $10,000.
But some residents, who need to dig a longer trench, say it will cost them too much.
“We are rebuilding and due to the lack of insurance, our financial situation is already in tatters,” Altadena resident Marilyn Chong wrote in a comment attached to the letter. “Taking on the additional burden of funding SCE infrastructure is not something we can or should do.”
Other survivors of the fire complained of Edison’s lack of planning and coordination with residents.
“I have started remodeling, and obviously when my house is finished there will be no underground power lines for me to connect to,” Gail Murphy wrote. “So obviously I must use the generator, and for how long!”
Johnson said the company has set up a phone line for people with concerns or questions. That line – 1-800-250-7339 – is answered Monday through Saturday, he said.
Residents can also visit Edison’s office in Altadena at 2680 Fair Oaks Avenue. The office is open Monday through Friday from 8 am to 4:30 pm.
It is not clear whether the Eaton fire would have been less destructive if power lines to the Altadena neighborhood had been buried.
The fire broke out beneath Edison’s massive transmission lines passing through Eaton Canyon. Those lines carry bulk electricity through the company’s territory. In Altadena, Edison is burying small distribution lines that deliver power to homes.
The government investigation into the cause of the fire has not yet been released. Pizarro said a leading theory is that a century-old transmission line, which had been without power for 50 years, somehow reenergized and sparked the fire.
At least 19 people died and more than 9,400 homes and other structures were destroyed in the fire.
