The Los Angeles area is bracing Tuesday for another stretch of "extreme fire weather": the National Weather service issued a "Particularly Dangerous Situation" red flag warning for Southern California.
The Details: Firefighters are again facing high winds of 40 to 70 miles per hour as they fight to contain the wildfires that have caused at least 25 deaths and burned more than 60 square miles in the Los Angeles area.
The Los Angeles Fire Department reports the Eaton Fire is now at 35% containment and the Palisades Fire is now at 17% containment as of Tuesday morning.
"Severe fire weather conditions will continue through tomorrow," Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone said.
"The worst winds are predicted today for the late afternoon and into Wednesday," Marrone added.
Approximately 88,000 Los Angeles County residents are under evacuation orders and more than 84,000 residents are under evacuation warnings, county Sheriff Robert Luna said Tuesday during a news conference, as reported by CNN.
Edison Faces Lawsuits: At least five lawsuits were filed against Southern California Edison, a subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), on Monday, according to an ABC News report.
The lawsuits allege Edison failed to de-energize its electrical equipment that potentially ignited the Eaton fire despite red flag warnings issued by the National Weather Service.
California fire agencies also confirmed on Monday they are investigating Southern California Edison over the possibility that downed utility equipment contributed to the Hurst fire, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.
The company said in a statement on Sunday that it filed two Electric Safety Incident Reports, one related to the Eaton fire and one related to the Hurst fire.
SCE said a downed power line was discovered at a time and location near the Hurst fire ignition, but it does not yet know whether the damage occurred before or after the start of the fire.
"We've seen in your reporting the videos, we've seen the photos, so we know that there was fire there. We don't know what caused it," Edison CEO Pedro Pizarro told ABC7 on Monday.
"Again, there was the obvious signature that we would see normally, but we have not been able to get up close to those lines because firefighters have determined that it hasn't been safe to do that yet. Whatever we find, we'll be transparent with our public," Pizarro added.
In 2021, SCE agreed to pay $550 million in fines and penalties related to fires that year which burned more than 380,000 acres and destroyed thousands of homes.
Edison International stock has fallen nearly 28% since the fires began last week. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (NYSE: PCG), another California utility, has seen its stock fall nearly 20% in the past week.