Investigators are investigating whether “zombie” power lines that were discontinued in the apocalyptic Eaton fire that incinerated nearly 10,000 structures in Los Angeles County have been fired.
An engineer at the Southern California Edison (SCE) utility company suspects that the charge may have jumped into the “idol line” that has not lived for more than 50 years from the high voltage line. He told the Wall Street Journal.
Speculations have grown that the false power line may have caused the flames when security camera footage from a gas station revealed flashes along an active power line near the origins of the Eton Canyon wildfire.
An SCE official told the Journal that the Active Line is not responsible, but said that the video flash could be an electromagnetic charge that jumps from the live line to the dead through a process known as “induction.”
Witnesses also reported seeing flames at the base of an SCE-owned transmission tower.
The idle line in question has been missing the committee since 1971, with an additional outlet and equipped with equipment to direct the surrounding fees to the ground, but SCE said it had discovered damage to the equipment on part of the line.
“If they're not properly tied up, there's a problem with grounding. The electricity doesn't dissipate to the ground as it should, and that leads to an arc,” Attorney Mikal Watts told the Journal.
Watts filed one of a number of class actions against SCE on behalf of the fire victim, who alleged that if the utility had kept its equipment properly it would have prevented a catastrophic flame.
