Wildfire de-energisation and fire damage hit Southern California Edison network in Palisades and Eaton fires
Jan 2025Published 1 May 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
- Where
- Palisades and Eaton fires, California
- Operator
- Southern California Edison
- What
- power outages from fire damage and de-energisation
- Cause
- Under investigation
- Outcome
- more than 700,000 customers reconnected within about a day
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Companies named in the reporting of this entry (being named is not a finding of fault): Eaton, Southern California Edison
What happened
In January 2025, widespread power outages affected more than four million customers of Southern California Edison across Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties in California, as the Palisades and Eaton fires and high winds swept the region. Public reporting described two distinct types of outage: those caused by direct fire damage to grid infrastructure, including substations, transmission lines and distribution circuits; and precautionary de-energisation of high fire risk circuits during extreme wind conditions, a practice commonly known as a public safety power shutoff.
At the point of reporting, around 178,000 customers were under shutoff orders, with a further 420,000 under consideration. Restoration proceeded in stages, with more than 700,000 customers reconnected within about a day, critical facilities among them. The ignition sources of the Palisades and Eaton fires remained under formal investigation at the time of reporting.
Contributing factors
Public reporting on the event described the following conditions rather than confirmed findings: (1) extreme weather, with high winds, low humidity and dry vegetation creating conditions in which any ignition source could produce a fast spreading fire; (2) a fire season extending outside the months historically regarded as the peak risk period; (3) heavy accumulated fuel loads in the affected landscapes; (4) extensive housing development in the wildland urban interface, placing property and people close to fire prone terrain; (5) precautionary de-energisation reduces the chance of network related ignition but imposes hardship on customers, and activation criteria for Southern California Edison were reported as subject to ongoing regulatory review; (6) network hardening measures such as covered conductors, undergrounding and additional sensing and inspection were reported as in progress but not complete across all high risk areas. The specific ignition sources of the Palisades and Eaton fires were under investigation and are not attributed here.
Lessons learned
- Direct fire damage to substations, transmission lines and distribution circuits causes outages, so operators should complete network hardening such as covered conductors before high risk periods.
- Precautionary de-energisation of high fire risk circuits during extreme wind conditions reduces ignition chance but leaves customers without supply, so operators should agree activation criteria with regulators in advance.
More lessons on outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.
Not yet known
- Cause of the Palisades and Eaton fires
- Total cost of damage and restoration
- Duration of full supply restoration
This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.
Source
Other entries that name Edison
- Transformer fire reported at a Con Edison facility in Chelsea, Manhattan
- Transformer fire at Con Edison substation cuts power in Dongan Hills, Staten Island
- Fire at Con Edison substation cuts power to Staten Island customers
- Con Edison substation fire at West 64th Street triggers Manhattan blackout
- Transformer explosion at Edison substation causes downtown Fullerton outage
Published 2026-05-01. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
