Southern California Edison will pay $80 million to the federal government to compensate for firefighting costs and property damage resulting from a 2017 fire that charred more than 100,000 acres of National Forest lands in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
The agreement between the U.S. Forest Service and the electric utility was finalized on Feb. 23 in the federal court in the Central District of California. It was the largest wildfire settlement ever in the Central District, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
What became the Thomas Fire was ignited in two locations on Dec. 4, 2017. Power-line issues occurred in both Anlauf Canyon north of the city of Santa Paula and Koenigstein Road in Upper Ojai that evening, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District.
SCE’s electrical grid was faulted for igniting the fire. Federal officials argued that in Anlauf Canyon, high winds caused power lines to touch the ground, leading to the ignition of dry vegetation. At the Upper Ojai location, an SCE power pole transformer failed, leading another power line to come into contact with the ground and ignite, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The utility admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement agreement, and the parties continue to disagree on certain points. Federal officials contend that 151,731 acres within the National Forest System land were blackened during the blaze, while SCE argues that the acreage amount is 122,288.
“The parties recognize that resolution of this dispute by the trier of fact is uncertain, including with respect to the cause of the fire in Anlauf Canyon, and the settlement reflects a reasonable compromise in light of that uncertainty,” the settlement states.
An SCE official said the legal accord was sensible.
"The settlement with the Department of Justice resolving the Thomas Fire litigation is a reasonable resolution,” SCE spokesperson Gabriela Ornelas told the Southern California Record. “We continue to protect our communities from the risk of wildfire with grid hardening, situational awareness and enhanced operational practices."
The utility agreed to pay the settlement amount within 60 days of the settlement’s effective date, Feb. 23.
The first assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph McNalley emphasized that the settlement funds would reimburse taxpayers for the costs of fighting the fire and for the major damage it did to public lands in the Los Padres National Forest.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to aggressively pursue compensation from any entity that causes harm to our forests and other precious national resources,” McNalley said in a prepared statement.
The Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD), which investigated the Thomas Fire, said in a 2019 report that the blaze destroyed 1,063 structures and caused one civilian death and one firefighter fatality.
The fire burned for 40 days, threatened nearby cities and unincorporated communities before it continued into neighboring Santa Barbara County. Nearly 9,000 firefighters took part in battling the fire, which wasn’t fully contained until Jan. 12, 2018, the VCFD reported.
The U.S. filed the lawsuit in December 2020, alleging that SCE was negligent due to violations of the California Health & Safety Code and other statutes.