Regulators criticized Edison’s wildfire safety actions months before deadly Eaton fire
State regulators criticized Southern California Edison for falling behind in inspecting transmission lines in areas at high risk of wildfires just months before the deadly Eaton fire, according to state documents. Utility safety officials also said the company’s visual inspections of splices in its transmission lines were sometimes failing to find dangerous problems, according to their October report. Mitchell said the X-ray equipment that Edison told regulators was finding problems that its other inspections missed was “not in wide use and not easy to use.” “You won’t be able to examine the entire transmission infrastructure with the X-rays,” said Mitchell, a board member of the Mussey Grade Road Alliance, a group working to improve fire safety in the state. Regulators said the company “must improve its response” to those constraints because its equipment in those areas “still present wildfire risk.” In its response, Edison told regulators that to compensate for the reduced number of inspections it would focus on transmission equipment most susceptible to failing and make repeated attempts where inspections were incomplete.
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