Southern California Edison will be involved in investigating what caused one of the biggest fires in Los Angeles County history
Bobcat fire in Juniper Hills, northeast of Los Angeles.
Photo: ETIENNE LAURENT / EFE
Federal investigators will find out if the Bobcat fire in the Los Angeles National Forest was started by Southern California Edison (SCE) utility crews, according to this company.
SCE delivered a section of an overhead conductor from its transmission facility in the area where the Bobcat fire started more than two weeks ago, Company spokesman David Song said Wednesday.
The initial report of the fire was near Cogswell Dam in the San Gabriel Mountains at 12:21 pm September 6.
In an incident report filed with the state Public Utilities Commission last week, Edison said one of his teams near the site experienced a problem five minutes earlier, at 12:16 pm
A circuit in a nearby substation experienced “relay operation,” indicating that his team detected some kind of disturbance or event, Song said.
The cameras captured the smoke developing in the area around 12:10 p.m., before the activity at the Edison circuit, he said.
“The fire started in an area that was somewhat remote,” said a spokesman for the Los Angeles National Forest. “And because of the access, our firefighters on the ground couldn’t get in there to control it. Through topography and fuel, the fire wanted to grow and became very stubborn.
Edison will assist the U.S. Forest Service in investigating the fire that burned more than two dozen homes and other buildings, as it was on its way to becoming one of the largest fires in Los Angeles County history, reported ABC 7.
Two firefighters working at the Bobcat Fire in Los Angeles. / Photo: EFE “Southern California Edison understands that this is a difficult time for the many people who are being affected by the Bobcat fire,” Song said. “Our thoughts also go out to those affected by the wildfires currently burning in the western United States.”
With the help of favorable weather conditions, firefighters are finally starting to control the Bobcat fire, with containment reaching 38%, an increase from just 17% the day before. The fire burned 113,307 acres and damaged or destroyed more than two dozen structures.
“We’ve had higher humidity, lower temperatures, fewer winds, so this gives us the opportunity to really build that containment line,” said a spokesman for the Los Angeles National Forest.
Firefighters battling the Bobcat fire took advantage of two days of calmer weather after erratic winds last weekend pushed flames out of the Los Angeles National Forest and out of communities in the desert hills, the fire spokesman Larry smith.
“Because the fire transferred from wood to light fuels near the desert, we were able to make real progress,” Smith said. Crews will shore up containment lines ahead of the hottest, gusty weather forecast for the weekend, he said.
It is expected that the Mount Wilson Observatory and nearby telecommunications equipment valued at approximately $ 1 billion remain undamaged after being threatened by the flames.
Thousands of residents remain under evacuation orders and warnings. This is one of dozens of other major wildfires raging across the West, including five in California that are among the largest in state history.
