The Orange County Board of Supervisors approved on Tuesday, Feb. 11, settlement offers from Southern California Edison for $18.125 million to pay for county damages from the 2020 Silverado fire and the 2022 Coastal fire.
The Silverado fire broke out on Oct. 26, 2020, near Santiago and Silverado canyon roads and blackened about 12,400 acres. It led to evacuation orders for about 70,000 people in Irvine and about 9,500 in Lake Forest. Two firefighters were seriously burned while battling the blaze.
The California Public Utilities Commission fined the utility $2.4 million after regulators found evidence that conductors installed by SCE were not in accordance with clearance requirements.
The Coastal fire broke out May 11 near the South Orange County Wastewater Authority’s Coastal Treatment Plant and was fueled by wind and thick brush as it ascended a hillside into an upscale neighborhood of ocean-view homes worth millions of dollars.
The fire blacked about 200 acres and consumed at least 20 homes and damaged another 11.
The Orange County Fire Authority and Cal Fire later cited an “unspecified electrical event involving an Edison power line” as the cause of that fire.
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