News: Whisker Labs (Ting) Sensors Show Voltage Sag Before Eaton Fire in California

[brycenesbitt]

This is a particularly electrically heavy article, with voltage graphs of all things, in the Old Gray Lady:

New Data Shows Major Electrical Disruption Ahead of Eaton Fire

A private lab found evidence of two massive electrical faults in the Eaton Canyon area just before a fire erupted there and spread through much of Altadena, Calif.

www.nytimes.com

"Moments before flames erupted below transmission towers near Altadena, Calif., high-voltage power lines faulted in the area, new sensor data shows, offering fresh clues about whether utility equipment may have failed as the deadly Eaton fire broke out on Jan. 7. Southern California Edison tower."

--
We used to have a "fire season" in California, which featured "Diablo" or "Santa Anna" winds. What's changed is that fire season is now much longer, and probably year round. A spark that would wake up a few firefighters on East Coast can trigger an inferno here.

 

[Elect117]

Interesting read.

I believe a few things can be true at the same time.

1) a homeless encampment could have easily caused the fire. Just look at fire statistics in skid row and downtown Los Angeles. Both things could be true. Edison's lines slapped together and a homeless encampment had a fire going for heat or cooking. Which one started the fire will most likely come down to who the lawyers think they can get money out of.

2) a record high wind storm to which nobody does loading design to. Poles fall during every hurricane, tornado, storm through out the Midwest and east coast. It is just not as devastating because of the dried brush we have in California. So the state needs to either require more extensive physical pole loading and wind loading or people need to chalk it up to freak storms. I think it is hard for people and insurance companies not to want to blame someone and saying it is the storms fault isn't going to work.

3) Edison falls below expectations in inspection and maintenance for a multitude of reasons. Some as small as poor paperwork tracking and some as large as poor definitions of decayed or post life cycle equipment. If you polled 100 employees on what constitutes a 30 day, 1 year, 5 year replacement and what constitutes good for continued service, they could come up with an array of answers. There is no metric. It is vague and typically left up to the inspector and company's knowledge and experience. Just read through GO165.


I can go on and on about this.

 

[brycenesbitt]

This whole mess about "fault" is what lead to the concept of "no fault car insurance".

If I lost my home and irreplicable mementos: should payout and compensation
really depend on if the fire was sparked by rich kids with fireworks,
poor kids with fireworks,
an unhoused mentally ill addict cooking meth,
a housed addict cooking meth,
or a company?

That should be what I'm paying for insurance for: "no mater what" "coverage".

 

[ggunn]

This whole mess about "fault" is what lead to the concept of "no fault car insurance".

If I lost my home and irreplicable mementos: should payout and compensation
really depend on if the fire was sparked by rich kids with fireworks,
poor kids with fireworks,
an unhoused mentally ill addict cooking meth,
a housed addict cooking meth,
or a company?

That should be what I'm paying for insurance for: "no mater what" "coverage".

The obvious problem is that after an insurance company pays a claim they want to sue someone to recoup their losses.

 

[brycenesbitt]

The obvious problem is that after an insurance company pays a claim they want to sue someone to recoup their losses.

That's the obvious idea behind "no fault".
Only the lawyers are assured of riches when everyone sues everyone for damages.
The "no fault" concept is that each side insures their own assets and nothing goes to court. No time or money has to be spent assigning blame: meth pot and corporate maleficence are the same. Corporate maleficence has to be regulated separately.

No-fault insurance - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org