The number of grid failures near three major fires in Los Angeles County spiked in the hours leading up to the fires, according to a company that monitors power activity.
Bob Marshall, CEO of Whisker Labs, told the Times that areas near the Eaton, Palisade and Hurst fires all experienced a significant increase in the number of faults in the hours leading up to the fires. Grid failures are caused by things like tree branches hitting power lines or wires hitting each other. Every failure creates a spark.
In total, the fires destroyed or damaged more than 9,000 buildings. Electrical equipment has sparked California’s destructive wind-driven wildfires in the past, but Los Angeles city and county fire officials said their investigators have yet to determine what started them.
“What I can’t say is that one of these malfunctions caused the fire. I don’t know,” Marshall said in an interview. “But it only takes one person to light a fire.”
Data shared with The Times but not yet released publicly shows an increase in failures.
In the Palisades fire area, there were 25 faults in the power grid in the hour before the fire broke out. Within an hour of the fire, 18 failures occurred, according to Whisker Labs.
The Eaton Fire had more flaws. Within an hour of the fire, 50 faults appeared in the area.
In the Hurst fire, 51 faults were reported. This comes after four consecutive hours of high fault levels. There were 120 failures in the first four hours.
This means that despite the sparks flying in the area, the energy has remained for the past four hours.
“All we know is that the lines were not down before the fire,” Marshall said. “The problem is the utility company doesn’t have the sensors to know that this is happening. This network of sensors is complex and sensitive. We There’s more information than they have. Our goal is, we’ve been trying to get utilities to focus on this data because it’s so valuable to know when the grid is under stress.
In all three areas, failures in the days preceding the fire were negligible, occurring only a few times.
Whisker Labs monitors power data using its Ting sensors, which monitor about 14,000 homes in the Los Angeles area. The monitors help Angelenos prevent electrical fires in their homes, but taken together they can provide information about the entire grid.
“So when something bad happens to the grid (a blackout or a surge), we see this because it’s measured by many sensors,” Marshall said.
The cause of the Eaton Fire remains under investigation but there are many factors to consider, U.S. Forest Service Los Angeles National Forest Fire Chief Robert Garcia said at a news conference.
“There are many different activities here [Eaton Canyon],” Garcia said. “There were members of the public there when it happened. There were power lines. [that] Run through there. So we have a team looking at all [possible starts]”.
Los Angeles fire officials said the cause of the Palisades fire remains under review.
