LOS ANGELES — Southern California Edison announced this week that it will create a program to compensate victims of January’s devastating Eaton Fire near Los Angeles, even as the cause of the blaze that killed 19 people remains under investigation.
The creation of the Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program seems to suggest that the utility is prepared to acknowledge what several lawsuits claim: that its equipmentsparked the conflagration in Altadena.
“Even though the details of how the Eaton Fire started are still being evaluated, SCE will offer an expedited process to pay and resolve claims fairly and promptly,” Pedro Pizarro, chief executive of Edison International, the utility’s parent company, said in a statement Wednesday. “This allows the community to focus more on recovery instead of lengthy, expensive litigation.”
Officials haven’t said what caused the fire that destroyed more than 9,400 homes and other structures.
It is not clear how much money the utility will contribute to the program. A lawsuit filed by Los Angeles County in March claims that costs and damage estimates were expected to total hundreds of millions of dollars, with assessments ongoing.
SCE said the compensation program, which will go into effect this fall, would be open to those who lost homes, rental properties or businesses. It would also cover those who suffered injuries, were harmed by smoke or had family members who were killed.
Among those suing SCE is EJ Soto, whose rental home in Altadena where she grew up was destroyed by flames. She first heard about the program on the news.
She said she considers the program’s creation as a “form of admission” from the u