What Edison did or did not do that contributed to the fire?

Edison was required to remove the abandoned equipment about 8 years earlier, but plead to the Public Utilities Commission the dubious claim that they might want to use the abandoned equipment. The PUC cowardly went along with Edison’s request, but failed to maintain the abandoned equipment properly to avoid the disaster caused by induction and a windstorm.

They should have cut off the power, given the drought conditions, the windstorm and their lack of maintenance. Their policy was to cut the power to avoid an induction disaster at 60 mph. The wind speed right when the fire started was 59 mph according to their records. I can tell you that after a 60-year sailing career, one mile per hour of wind speed is not a dependable buffer for avoiding a disaster.