SoCal Edison Admits To 'Impact' At Start Of Saddleridge Fire

LOS ANGELES, CA — With the embers still burning across a wide swath of the San Fernando Valley, Southern California Edison is already acknowledging that it's electrical equipment experienced an 'impact' at the same time the Saddleridge Fire broke out forcing more than 100,000 people to flee their homes.

As first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, the utility company filed a report with the California Public Utilities Commission Monday alerting the state to its possible role in the blaze. The report comes a day after an SCE spokeswoman cautioned against a rush to judgement. Despite the reports of witnesses who watched the massive blaze start at the base of an electricity transmission tower during a raging Santa Ana wind storm, SCE officials said it’s too soon to tell how the fire started.

By Monday, Susan Cox, a SoCal Edison spokeswoman acknowledged that the blaze started at the same time as the "impact" involving the utility's equipment. Cox declined to say what the incident was nor where it occurred.

“Out of an abundance of caution we notified the CPUC on Friday, Oct. 11 that our system was impacted near the reported time of the fire,” Cox said. "SCE understands this is a difficult time for the many people that are being impacted by the Saddleridge Fire in Los Angeles County. As reported, during a period of high winds and low humidity, a fire began at approximately 9 :00 p.m. on Thursday, October 10 near Yarnell Street and Saddle Ridge Road in Sylmar which quickly spread westward in the northern part of Los Angeles. The company’s top priority is the safety of customers, employees and communities, which is why we continue to enhance our wildfire mitigation efforts through grid hardening, situational awareness and enhanced operational practices."

According to the newspaper, the SCE acknowledgement is similar to the report filed by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in the days after the Camp Fire, the state's deadliest fire. Investigators later found the PG&E malfunction to be the cause of the blaze. That catastrophe led PG&E to shut down power to hundreds of thousands of customers across California last week as part of Public Safety Planned Shutoffs amid a forecast of extreme weather and fire conditions.

Southern California Edison, however, opted not to shut off the power lines during the Santa Ana wind storm in the Sylmar region that has endured three catastrophic wildfires within 11 years.

RELATED: Saddleridge Fire 41 Percent Contained; Questions Turn To Blame

The Los Angeles Times interviewed a Sylmar couple who said they watched flames burn at the base of the transmission tower from their second story-window. They called the fire department, but by the time the first engines arrived, the flames had spread rapidly.

Fire investigators have not yet determined the cause of the blaze that destroyed 17 structures and damaged another 58 since it broke out Thursday. Two people died from heart failure while battling or patrolling the firelines.The fire was 43 percent contained Monday morning. Firefighters planned to put out remaining hot spots, isolate smoldering debris from unburned vegetation and shore up containment lines aided by lower wind speeds, increasing humidity and lower temperatures, fire officials said.

The Saddleridge Fire began Thursday night in Sylmar near Highway 210 and quickly jumped the Golden State (5) Freeway, threatening thousands of homes. By Monday morning, it had scorched nearly 8,000 acres.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story characterized SCE as acknowledging an a 'malfunction' near the the start of the fire. According to an SCE spokeswoman, the company is only acknowledging an 'impact' around the time of the fire starting.