Reconsidering Reconductoring in the wake of the Palisades and Eaton Fires
To meet California’s climate goals and to address the increased risk of wildfire ignition by aging transmission lines, the state’s electricity infrastructure will require substantial investment in the coming decades. Major financial investments will be necessary for both new construction and for upgrades to existing transmission infrastructure. Public funding can fast track the process.
It has been approximately seven months since the devasting fires in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon tore through the hillsides and ignited the backyards, play yards, and store fronts of the places we call residential and commercial buildings. These fires collectively burned over 18,000 of these spaces, which is nothing to be said for the lived experiences, communal memories, and histories of space which somehow feel lost as well after such destruction. 30 people lost their lives in the fires, and countless others suffered nonfatal injuries. One recent study estimates 440 indirect deaths attributable to the fires from January 5th to February 1st from factors such as increased exposure to poor air quality.[1] Over 37,000 acres of land were burned, killing and displacing wildlife for an area stretching nearly 60 miles outside of the built environment.
The aftermath for residents of the affected areas is riddled with uncertainties. The harmful consequences of the fires affect every aspect of the human and natural worlds. For those that have the financial means, questions of how to rebuild damaged homes and how to successfully file and receive payouts from insurance claims must be answered. Some homeowners are faced with the infiltration of toxic chemicals like lead, lithium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, and beryllium into their homes. These chemicals can cause fatal lung diseases when inhaled even in small amounts and must be removed from their homes before any kind of rebuilding can take place.[2] Those without the means or the will to rebuild must find new homes, sometimes far outside of the neighborhoods and communities in which they grew up.
Apart from toxicity in standing homes and the logistics and cost of rebuilding burned homes, the reverberating effects of the fires seeps into every aspect of residents’ lives. For example, nearly 40 childcare facilities were destroyed in the fires and hundreds more temporarily closed in the aftermath due to ash, debris, power outages, or lack of potable water.[3] Vulnerable groups such as the elderly, pregnant women, children, and those with pre-existing health conditions were left with increased risk of long-term effects from smoke inhalation, such as asthma attacks, heart attacks, and strokes. City and state air and water quality boards continue to investigate and mitigate far-reaching environmental consequences impacting air and water quality such as particulate matter in the air and toxic chemicals entering damaged water pipes, contaminating drinking water and requiring extensive remediation.[4]
Harm to wildlife such as habitat destruction and fragmentation, mortality, and respiratory issues occurred across far-reaching environments, such as toxic ash flowing into the Topanga Creek, choking the Steelhead Trout populations (an endangered species). Monarch butterflies wintering in California groves were decimated, and countless coyotes, birds, and bobcats were temporarily or permanently displaced.[5]
While the cause of each of the Palisades and Eaton fires are still under investigation, multiple lawsuits have been filed by both the residents of these communities and the County of Los Angeles against utility company Southern California Edison (SCE) alleging that the Eaton Fire began when SCE’s electrical equipment sparked surrounding vegetation, igniting its flames and causing the devastation Californians continue to deal with today.[6] As well, more than 100 insurance providers have sued SCE seeking indemnification for claims they have paid, or expect to pay, to victims of the Eaton Fire.[7]
Investigations into the cause of the Eaton Fire are ongoing. However, should the claims of LA County and others prove true, the Eaton Fire will not be the first example of a major California wildfire caused by transmission infrastructure. Most famously, in 2018, a failed metal “C-hook” on a Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) transmission tower located in Northern California’s Butte County caused a transmission line to ignite surrounding vegetation during a strong wind event causing the 2018 Camp Fire. The Camp Fire burned 153,336 acres, led to the deaths of 85 people, caused billions of dollars in property damage, and ultimately led to a guilty plea by the California utility company of 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of unlawfully starting a fire. Unfortunately, the 2021 Dixie, 2020 Zogg, 2019 Easy, 2019 Kincade, Thomas, and Woolsey fires all involved utility company equipment as well.[8]
While Californians continue to work through the aftermath of these devastating fires, lawmakers and citizens alike are left to decide how to prevent another uncontrolled wildfire and how to mitigate the damages of what has already occurred.
Immediate, on-the-ground, preventative solutions such as implementing a “Zone 0” rule (a rule that requires the removal of combustible materials like mulch, wood chips, and dead vegetation within 5 feet of a structure – see more here) and investing in firefighters by providing them with meaningful, full-time career support (see more here) are necessary steps to meet the continuing threat of California wildfires with impactful, data driven solutions.[9] Longer-term solutions that address the root causes of wildfire occurrences must be considered and adopted as well.
In response to these catastrophic crises, utilities and regulators alike have increasingly focused on wildfire mitigation measures on utility companies, including things like risk assessment and mapping, vegetation management, increased inspections, and emergency planning and preparedness.[10] These increased measures, while necessary, come with a cost. Between 2019 and 2023, the three largest investor-owned public utility companies in California (PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E) spent a collective $27 billion in wildfire-related costs (this includes both mitigation efforts and insurance costs).[11] In 2024, the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) reported to the legislature that the largest contributors to rising electricity rates since 2021 were wildfire mitigation costs and net energy metering, with wildfire related costs making up between 9% and 18% of the company’s respective total expenditures.[12]
Climate change is a major contributing factor to both the increase in and strength of wildfire occurrences in the State of California.[13] In part due to its wildfire risk exposure, California as well has some of the most aggressive climate change goals in the country, such as procuring 60% of all electricity from renewable sources by 2030, moving to 100% carbon-free sources by 2045, and transitioning to 100% zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) for new passenger cars and trucks by 2045.[14] In order to meet these climate change mitigation goals and to meet the grid’s reliability needs, the state has added approximately 24,000 megawatts (or, 24 GW) of new energy resources to the transmission system in the last five years (2020 to 2024) alone.[15] However, the state must maintain this rapid pace of new resource development to fully achieve its codified climate goals in the asserted timeframe. This will require implementation of CAISO’s existing transmission plans, interconnection queue reform, and, most importantly, streamlined transmission development.
Transmission infrastructure is the backbone of California’s electric grid and the bedrock of renewable energy generators’ connection to it. In fact, there is three times more potential capacity in the California interconnection queue (clean energy projects requesting to connect to the grid) than what is necessary to achieve California’s clean energy requirements (although not all of these projects are likely to move forward).[16] However, these projects will not be able to connect to the grid without the transmission infrastructure required to support them. To allow renewable energy generators to come online and continue to advance the clean energy transition in California, transmission infrastructure must be updated at scale.
Conclusion
Wildfire mitigation is a complex issue that is informed and complicated by a multiplicity of human and natural systems that are, on their own, quite complex. The upgrading of transmission infrastructure is one aspect of this battle that must be untangled and surmounted to effectively respond to the reality of wildfire occurrences in California and their connection to electricity infrastructure. Upgrading transmission lines will be costly, and the costliness of wildfire mitigation in recent years has already added to skyrocketing electric costs in the state.
Nevertheless, costly repairs to the transmission system are sorely needed in California. They are needed to help mitigate tragic wildfire occurrences, such as the Camp, Thomas, and Eaton fires, to name a few. They are also a requirement to bringing new renewable energy generators online and reach California’s clean energy goals, which have been codified by law and are a collective effort of the state and all its players.
To address this tangled situation, the State of California should fully or partially fund transmission infrastructure upgrades. Using funding sourced from taxpayers is a more equitable solution to meeting the power demands of the state and insulates ratepayers from increases in electric rates, to a degree. Our upcoming whitepaper proposes one approach to addressing the issues of costliness and timeliness facing transmission infrastructure upgrades.
[1] Paglino E, Raquib RV, Stokes AC. Excess Deaths Attributable to the Los Angeles Wildfires From January 5 to February 1, 2025. JAMA. Published online August 06, 2025. doi:10.1001/jama.2025.10556.
[2] KCRA, After the LA fires, a new toxin is being found in homes: beryllium, (July 2, 2025), https://www.kcra.com/article/la-fires-new-toxin-found-in-homes-beryllium/65282726; Migliozzi, Blacki, NY Times, ‘Unsafe to Inhabit’: The Toxic Homes of L.A., (June 24, 2025) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive /2025/06/24/realestate/los-angeles-fires-toxic-homes.html?campaign_id=4 9&emc=edit_ca_ 20250624&instance_ id=157156&nl=california-today®i_id=261095491&segment_id=200548&user_id=b8b05c 23a7caab29ca65976 0b0e92b60.
[3] L.A. Times, L.A. fires upend fragile child-care industry, sending providers, families scrambling, (January 25, 2025) https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-25/la-fires-jolt-child-care-industry-families-providers-scramblin g#:~:text=As%20of%20Thursday%2C%2037%20child,California%20Department%20of%20Social%20Services.
[4] Benmarhnia T, Errett NA, Casey JA. Beneath the smoke: Understanding the public health impacts of the Los Angeles urban wildfires. Environ Epidemiol. 2025 Apr 28;9(3):e388. doi: 10.1097/EE9.0000000000000388. PMID: 40304010; PMCID: PMC12040033.
[5] Smithsonian, Here’s How the Los Angeles Wildfires Are Affecting Animals, From Fish to Snakes to Birds, (February 5, 2025) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/heres-how-the-los-angeles-wildfires-are-affecting-animals-from-fish-to-snakes-to-birds180986004/#:~:text=In%20the%20weeks%20following%20the,wasn't%20their %20first%20blaze.
[6] Complaint, at 4, County of Los Angeles, et al. v. Southern California Edison, No. _____ (Sup. Ct. of the State of California, County of Los Angeles); Complaint, Jeremy Gursey v. Southern California Edison Company, et al., No. 25STCV00731 (Sup. Ct. of the State of California, County of Los Angeles). https://www.dailyjournal.com/article /384148-insurers-sue-edison-over-eaton-fire-as-state-farm-rate-hike-faces-pushback.
[7] Daily Journal, Insurers sue Edison over Eaton Fire as State Farm rate hike faces pushback, (March 10, 2025).
[8] CPUC, CPUC Approves $45 Million Penalty in Settlement With PG&E For Dixie Fire (January 25, 2024). https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/news-and-updates/all-news/cpuc-approves-45-million-penalty-in-settlement-with-pge-for-dixie-fire-2024; CPUC Safety and Enforcement Division, Electric Safety and Reliability Branch, Los Angeles, Investigation Report (2020).
[9] Climate and Energy Policy Program, Building a Robust and Representative Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Workforce, (November 2024) https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/bv339nq2156/Woods%20Wildland%20 Fire%20Mitigation%20v05%20WEB.pdf.
[10] California Council on Science & Technology, The Costs of Wildfire in California: An Independent Review of Scientific and Technical Information, at 37 (October 2020).
[11] California Public Utilities Commission (PUC), 2024 Senate Bill 695 Report: Report to the Governor and Legislature on Actions to Limit Utility Cost and Rate Increases Pursuant to Public Utilities Code Section 913.1, at 50 (July 2024).
[12] California Public Utilities Commission (PUC), 2024 Senate Bill 695 Report: Report to the Governor and Legislature on Actions to Limit Utility Cost and Rate Increases Pursuant to Public Utilities Code Section 913.1, at 7 (July 2024).
[13] Kristina A Dahl et al, 2023 Environ. Res. Lett. 18 064011: Quantifying the contribution of major carbon producers to increases in vapor pressure deficit and burned area in western US and southwestern Canadian forests, (May 16, 2023) https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acbce8#erlacbce8s3.
[14] The “100 Percent Clean Energy Act of 2018” (De Leon, 2018).
[15] California Energy Commission, The Transmission Challenge, (2025) https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/topics/california-transmission-system/transmission-challenge#:~:text=The%20Transmission%20Challenge-,The%20Transmission%20Challenge,meeting%20reliability%20and%20policy%20objectives.
[16] California ISO, Briefing on the status of interconnection process enhancements and the interconnection queue, (July 23, 2025) https://www.caiso.com/documents/briefing-on-the-status-of-interconnection-process-enhancements-and-the-interconnection-queue-jul-2025.pdf.