LOS ANGELES — Southern California Edison has agreed to pay $82.5 million to cover costs and damages from the 2020 Bobcat fire, what federal officials are calling a record settlement for one of the largest blazes in Los Angeles County.
Federal officials allege that the Bobcat fire, which burned more than 114,000 acres in 2020, ignited when trees that were not properly maintained by Southern California Edison and its tree maintenance contractor came into contact with power lines.
Edison agreed to pay the settlement within 60 days of the effective date of the agreement, which was May 14, without admitting wrongdoing or fault.
The utility did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles called it “the largest-ever wildfire cost recovery settlement” by the government in the Central District of California.
“This record settlement against Southern California Edison provides meaningful compensation to taxpayers for the extensive costs of fighting the Bobcat Fire and for the widespread damage to public lands,” U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli said in a news release. “My office will continue to aggressively pursue recovery for suppression costs and environmental damages from any entity that causes harm to the public’s forests and other precious national resources.”
The settlement comes as Edison seeks to raise customer rates by 10% in order to pay for wildfire mitigation and cover “reasonable costs of its operations, facilities [and] infrastructure,” according to the utility giant’s request filing. It also comes just months after fire ravaged Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
The California Public Utilities Commission is expected to make a decision this summer on the request. If approved, the rate hike would mean an $18 average increase in monthly electrical bills for Edison’s 15 million customers.
The federal government filed a lawsuit in September 2023 on behalf of the Forest Service against Edison and Utility Tree Service seeking damages in excess of $121 million for the cost of extinguishing the Bobcat fire and the resulting damage to property and natural resources.
The fire, which began on Sept. 6, 2020, destroyed 87 homes, 83 other structures and 178 vehicles. An additional 28 homes were also damaged and at least six firefighters were injured while battling the fire.
Federal officials said it also resulted in years of closure of more than 100 miles of trails and numerous campgrounds and had a harmful impact on habitats and wildlife, including to the “federally endangered wildlife-mountain yellow-legged frog, federally threatened fish and birds and irreplaceable cultural and heritage resources.”
“These settlements are essential in restoring our landscapes after wildfires,” acting U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Regional Forester Jason Kuiken said in the news release.
Tony Martinez, deputy forest supervisor for the Angeles National Forest, said the resources would “help rehabilitate burned areas, restore wildlife habitats, and strengthen our forests’ resilience to future wildfires.”
Edison’s safety record declined last year, with the number of fires sparked by its equipment soaring to 178, from 90 the year before and 39% above the five-year average.
In April, the chief executive of Southern California Edison’s parent company said that the company was likely to suffer “material losses” related to the deadly Eaton fire, which ignited on Jan. 7 and burned more than 14,000 acres in and around Altadena.
Investigations into the cause of the fire are continuing and have not concluded that Edison’s equipment sparked the blaze, Edison International Chief Executive Pedro Pizarro said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call in April.
Edison has previously acknowledged that it could be responsible for the blaze and said this month that a dormant power line might have been the cause.
The Eaton fire killed 18 people and destroyed thousands of homes and other structures. Early estimates put the cost of damage at $10 billion, but experts said that number would grow.
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Los Angeles Times staff writer Caroline Petrow-Cohen contributed to this report.
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