The mother of a woman who was killed in the Los Angeles-area Eaton Fire on Friday filed a lawsuit against Southern California Edison (SCE) in what would be the first wrongful-death lawsuit filed against an electricity company related to the disaster.

Many fires that started burning and spread quickly in Los Angeles in the strong winds of Santa Ana last week have killed more than XNUMX people and burned about 16,200 hectares of the second largest region in the US.

Although senior investigators have not released what caused the Eaton Fire near Pasadena, Calif., SCE has filed multiple lawsuits alleging the company’s equipment fueled the original fire.

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

“Petey’s last hours were filled with chaos and fear,” said the lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles County District Court. “The surrounding area just watched the video of the disaster with the flames blowing freely in the wind, the real fire spreading in all directions, and the constant wind.”

Several lawsuits were filed

Cathirell’s legal action follows a series of lawsuits filed against SCE this week by residents and business owners whose property was damaged.

Late Thursday night, lawyers for a woman who lost her home in the Los Angeles-area Eaton Fire filed an emergency request for SCE to keep additional electrical equipment for analysis during the fire investigation, court records show.

Evangeline Iglesias, who is one of the plaintiffs suing SCE after her Altadena home burned in the inferno, has asked the Los Angeles County District Court to halt SCE’s efforts to destroy distribution lines and other electrical equipment at the site of the fire, according to court documents.

A spokesperson for SCE said the company is focusing on restoring power to affected areas. The company said it is aware of the allegations surrounding the Eaton Fire and will review them.

SCE, which is a subsidiary of Edison International, said it had kept some electrical equipment for analysis during the fire investigation.

The law firm representing Iglesias, Edelson PC, said in the filing that SCE told the company in letters that it planned to quickly remove electrical equipment from the fire area unless it was told which equipment to keep.

The level of that, Edelson argued in his emergency court filing, was unreasonable, “especially where most or all of the evidence belongs to SCE and where SCE has special knowledge of where the fire started and spread,” the filings showed.

Multiple investigations into the cause of the Eaton and Palisades fires — California’s deadliest fires — are ongoing.