SANTA ANA — The Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a $4.5 million settlement with T-Mobile for its part in the setting of the 2020 Silverado fire.
The supervisors voted 4-0 for the settlement with Supervisor Janet Nguyen absent.
The settlement comes after the board reached agreements in February with Southern California Edison totaling $18.125 million to pay for damage caused by the 2020 Silverado fire and the 2022 Coastal fire.
The Silverado fire broke out about 6:45 a.m. Oct. 26, 2020, near Santiago and Silverado canyon roads and blackened about 12,466 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.
Edison filed a preliminary report with the commission saying “it appears that a lashing wire that was attached to an underbuilt telecommunication line may have contacted (Edison’s) overhead primary conduct, which may have resulted in the ignition of the fire.”
The county’s lawsuit alleged that the “broken lashing wire” belonged to T-Mobile, which was also a defendant.
The Coastal fire broke out about 2:40 p.m. May 11, 2022, around Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park in Laguna Niguel, about a quarter-mile from the South Orange County Wastewater Authority Coastal Treatment Plant at 28303 Alicia Parkway, according to the county’s lawsuit.
The blaze 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 Coastal Fire scorched 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.
The lawsuit alleges “an electrical failure occurred on (an Edison pole) that supported a 12KV distribution line; causing an arc that ignited susceptible ground vegetation and resulting in the Coastal fire.”
The lawsuit alleges Edison failed to maintain its “aging” electrical infrastructure and clear away brush.