The mother of a woman who died in the LA area is suing the electric company in the death

The mother of a woman killed in the Eaton Fire in the Los Angeles area on Friday filed a lawsuit against Southern California Edison (SCE) in what may be the first death-related lawsuit brought against the power company in connection with the disaster.

Multiple fires that started and quickly spread across Los Angeles in Santa Ana storms last week have killed more than a dozen people and burned nearly 16,200 acres of the US’s second-largest metro area.

Although official investigators have not yet released the cause of the Eaton fire near Pasadena, Calif., SCE has filed a growing number of lawsuits accusing the agency of fueling the initial flames.

Altadena resident Evelyn Cathirell is suing SCE for wrongful death after the remains of her daughter, Evelyn “Petey” McClendon, were found in their home after it was destroyed by fire.

“Petey’s final hours were filled with chaos and panic,” said the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. “The surroundings were straight out of a disaster movie with embers blowing freely in the wind, patches of fire raging in all directions, and relentless winds.”

Many lawsuits have been filed

Cathirell’s legal action follows several lawsuits filed by SCE this week by residents and business owners whose property was destroyed.

On Thursday night, lawyers for a woman who lost her home in the Los Angeles area in the Eaton Fire filed an emergency request that SCE preserve additional electrical equipment for testing in the fire investigation, a court filing shows.

Evangeline Iglesias, who is among those suing SCE after her Altadena home burned in the heat, has asked the Los Angeles Superior Court to stop SCE’s efforts to destroy power lines and other electrical equipment in the burned area, according to court documents.

A spokesperson for SCE said the company is focused on restoring electricity to the affected areas. The company said it is aware of the lawsuits related to the Eaton Fire and will review them.

SCE, which is a subsidiary of Edison International, previously said it has kept some electrical equipment to be tested in the fire investigation.

The law firm representing Iglesias, Edelson PC, said in letters that SCE told the company in letters that it planned to remove power infrastructure from the burned area without being specifically told what equipment to keep.

That level of specificity, Edelson argued in his emergency motion to the court, was unreasonable, “especially when most or all of that evidence was held by SCE and when SCE had unique knowledge about the origin of the fire and how it spread,” the filing indicated.

Extensive investigations into the cause of the Eaton and Palisades fires – two of the most destructive wildfires in California – are ongoing.