Seeking to avoid long disputes, southern California Edison said on Wednesday that it will directly compensate for Eaton fire victims for damages suffered, even if it has not yet officially conceded that its equipment triggered the fire on January 7.
Edison said that he was planning to launch a forest fire recovery remuneration program this fall that would be open to those who lost houses, companies or rental properties in the fire that killed 19 people and destroys more than 9,400 houses and other structures in Altadena. He would also cover those who were injured by smoke, suffered from physical injuries or who had deceased family members.
“Even if the details of how Eaton fires started are still being evaluated, SCE will offer an accelerated process to pay and resolve complaints in a fair and rapid manner,” said Pedro Pizarro, Managing Director of Edison International, the parent company of the public service, in a press release. “This allows the community to focus more on recovery instead of a long and expensive dispute.”
Public service said they hired consultants Kenneth R. Feinberg and Camille S. Biros, who had worked on the victims’ remuneration fund on September 11, to help design the program.
Dozens of prosecutions were filed against Edison following the fire of January 7 that videos captured the ignition under a transmission line at Eaton Canyon. The cause is still being studied, but Pizarro has said that a main theory is that an inactive line of Edison’s inactive transmission, used for the last time in 1971, has somehow become reconstituted and started fire.
A lawyer who represents fire victims expressed skepticism of the plan, saying that this could lead to a reduction in compensation for fire victims.
“In the past, public services have proposed these programs as a means of undressing and underpaid the victims,” said lawyer Richard Bridgford. “The victims have done evenly better when they are represented by advice.”
Edison said the program would be designed to quickly compensate for the victims, including those who were insured. People can apply with or without a lawyer, he said. The program should take place until 2026.
“The architecture and calendar of the SCE Direct Claims program will be decisive in the effective management of financing resources, the attenuation of interest costs and the minimization of inflationary pressures so that funds can remedy real complaints and fairly compensate for community members for their losses,” said Pizarro.
If Edison is deemed responsible for the fire, the State $ 21 billion fund should reimburse the company for all or most of the payments it makes to the victims. Brigford said he thought that the forest fire fund would be enough to cover the allegations of Eaton Fire.
“They try to panic people so that they do not get an adequate representation,” he said.
Others fear that the state forest fund will be inadequate. Treathquake Authority officials, who administers the Wildfire Fund, said in documents published before a meeting on Thursday that they fear the costs of the Eaton Fire could exhaust the fund.
State representatives plan to discuss what can be done to extend the life of the fund at the meeting.
Edison said that more information on eligibility and other details of the remuneration plan would be published in the coming weeks.