What about a proposed settlement with Edison?
regarding the Altadena fire of January 7-9, 2025
At last, on September 17, 2025, Southern California Edison has made a preliminary offer of settlement to the fire damage that they apparently caused, while still somehow refusing admission of responsibility,
It is complicated, but I have participated in over 200 settlements, many about entire facilities with settlements up to $14 million. I’ve been studying this fire since it started. I might be reasonably qualified to form an opinion about the Eaton Canyon fire in Altadena and since I live nearby, I am motivated to report what I understand at this point.
Just what is going on here?
Let me assemble a very brief timeline and explanation.
January 7, 2025, at about 6:15pm, the Eaton Canyon fire was first reported in Altadena in the middle of a ferocious windstorm. The LA Times reported on January 12 that the fire may have originated under electrical towers above Eaton Canyon on the northeast perimeter of Altadena.
Now, photographic evidence indicates that the fire indeed started under these towers.
Rainfall in Altadena for the 6 months prior to January 6, 2025 was 6 one hundredths of an inch, normal was 6.66 inches. Altadena was missing six and one half inches of rain. Nine hundredths of the normal rainfall at the date. The wind speed was measured at 59 mph right at the time of the start of the fire and Edison’s cut off for deactivation of power was 60 mph. According to the Times 1/15/25, they also measured wind speeds above that before and after the small part falling off the tower that started the fire. A sparking, scorched part fell onto the bone-dry hillside with zero point 9 percent, (0.9%, less that one percent) of normal rainfall.
On August 26th I attended a presentation by Bridgeford, a well-experienced law firm, in which they showed a video of the location of the origin of the Eaton fire. The fire started, as I understood it, when the loose part of the towers knocked off an abandoned tower in the powerful windstorm. Oddly this part was the ignition source for the fire even though the tower was abandoned. It was heavily charred with sparks from the power line. The abandoned tower and its attached lines were energized by “induction” from an adjacent major power line which was still energized. This spooky system is actually well known to all electrical personnel and is famously a source of safety concern within of the entire power industry.
The Times reported that when Edison announced in late July a program to directly compensate Eaton fire survivors in lieu of litigation. Importantly, Edison had not adequately maintained the grounding system for the abandoned towers as reported in the August 26th public meeting organized by Bridgeford. Even more importantly Edison failed to cut off the power during the
Understandably, Bridgeford called the offer “… a ploy. They want to pay less money to victims.” Edison firmed up their plans in a ten page release on September 17, 2025 going as far as to call it a “proposed draft for a fund.”
The resolution to the Eaton fire, as I understand it, will have many parts.
The main parts, it seems, will be:
Settlements with Edison, supposedly prompt, shown in the 9/17/25 material
“Mass Tort” litigation, scheduled for mid-January 2027 (more on this as details are published.)
The remaining parts of the losses, some tragically significant, including 19 deaths, will have their own time frames, if I understand correctly.
So, where does this put our friend Jane Doe, our fictional survivor in earlier Blog entries on this site?
Apparently she needs to evaluate the Edison offer and determine if she wants to accept it or become part of the mass tort system. Time, money and personal issues require evaluation. Having worked on many hundreds of dispute resolution projects, I can only offer data, not advice but data with understanding.
