Faults along Los Angeles' power grid have proliferated in the same areas where three of this week's major wildfires started, according to a company that monitors electrical activity.
Whisker Labs recorded a spike in failures in the hours before the Eaton, Palisades and Hearst fires, said Bob Marshall, the company's chief executive officer. fox news Saturday.
In the Palisades area, which was the worst affected by the fire, 63 power grid outages occurred in the two to three hours before the fire broke out, Marshall said.
Eighteen outages were also recorded in the hour starting Tuesday.
He also said there were 317 power grid faults “hours before” the Eaton fire near Altadena and about 230 power grid faults before the Hearst fire.
He said there are few obstacles on a typical day.
Investigators have not yet determined the cause of the wildfire, but sparks from the fault could fall to the ground and ignite vegetation.
Strong winds can quickly carry the flames.
“What we can't say is whether any of these defects caused the fire. We don't know,” Marshall said.
“What we know from the data is that there were increasing deficiencies in the power grid surrounding the areas where the fires occurred.”
