Los Angeles wildfire started near base of electrical tower: Officials

A wildfire that started near the base of high-voltage transmission tower owned by electric-utility Southern California Edison has reportedly raged across the northern edge of Los Angeles. The Fire Department spokesman reportedly claimed that the cause of the fire is still uncertain but the investigators had traced the fire's origin to a slope beneath the high-voltage tower near Saddle Ridge Road, however, the tower is not suspected of sparking the blaze. 

The Saddle Ridge fire broke out on October 10 and erupted across the northern edge of San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. It has reportedly destroyed nearly 8,000 acres, threatened more than 17,000 homes and triggered the evacuation of approximately 10,000 people. The company which is a unit of Edison International claimed that they had notified the California Public Utility Commission n October 11 that their system was impacted near the reported time of the fire. 

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PG&E to take corrective measures

The company had reportedly turned off power to some customers across the region as a precaution after extreme winds and dry weather had raised the risk of wildfire. However, a utility spokeswoman told an international media outlet that Edison had not de-energize any power for the Saddleridge fire area. In Northern California, Utility Pacific Gas and Electric Co faced increasing criticism for its own wide-scale precautionary power shutdown and poorly managed communication between both the companies. The Public Utility Commission on October 14 ordered PG&E to undertake corrective actions. 

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Containment lines

Dry desert winds from the California desert had earlier stoked the fires. However, later moister winds from the Pacific had subdued it, due to which, the firefighters had managed to even carve the containment lines. Due to the fire being confined to an area, the fire officials were able to draw containment lines in nearly 41 per cent of the fire's perimeter. This was also more than double the containment level which was also reported by the authorities a day before. As the fires erupted initially, the authorities lifted all the remaining evacuation notices. The forest blazes were at the height of the blaze on Friday and nearly 23,000 homes were evacuated which included the dislocation of nearly a hundred thousand people from several communities in northern Los Angeles.

(With inputs from agencies)

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