A wrongful death lawsuit filed Monday, Nov. 17, named Southern California Edison and Genasys, Inc., Los Angeles County’s emergency alert vendor, alleging Genasys’ defective design caused Altadena residents west of Lake Avenue to receive evacuation orders hours late, leading to the majority of deaths in the Eaton fire.
The tragedy was a case of “digital redlining,” said LA Fire Justice Attorney Mikal Watts during a morning news conference at Altadena Library, a special place for the Darden sisters, one of whom was one of the 19 people killed by the catastrophic Eaton fire, which ignited on Jan. 7.
“Somebody built an algorithm that had no basis in fact, in risk assessment, in science,” Watts said, behind him a large map displaying a solid yellow line demarking Lake Avenue — amplifying that 18 of the 19 deaths came from west of the line. “It just said if you’re on the west side of Lake Avenue you don’t get a warning and if you’re on the east side, maybe you’re entitled to one.”
Stacey Darden, 54, lived west of Lake Avenue near Marengo Avenue and Mendocino Street. LA Fire Justice filed the lawsuit on behalf of her sister Gerry Darden, who attended Monday’s press conference.
“We are not litigious,” Gerry Darden said in a statement. “Our family thought long and hard about the decision to file a lawsuit. Edison started this fire, and Genasys never warned her that she was in danger. My sister was studiously following the evacuation orders the night of the Eaton Fire. The truth is that if these companies had done what they were supposed to do, Stacey would be alive today.”
LA Fire Justice alleges that despite the first fire being reported west of Lake Avenue around 11 p.m. on Jan. 7, the first alert was not sent for that area until around 3 a.m. and was not sent to the entire west side until another two hours had passed.
Officials at the Rosemead-based Southern California Edison said on Monday that they were reviewing the claim.
“We understand the tremendous impacts on the community and our hearts are with everyone who was affected by the Southern California wildfires,” said SCE spokesperson David Eisenhauer. “We are reviewing the lawsuit that has been filed and will respond through the legal process.”
San Diego-based Genasys could not immediately be reached.
According to attorneys, more than 70% of the homes burned in the Eaton fire burned west of Lake Avenue despite being further away from the fire’s ignition point than the much smaller percentage east of Lake Avenue which survived.
Watts described the service Genasys provided to the people of Los Angeles County as akin to the Ford Motor Company selling the Ford Pinto in the 1970s. He said Genasys’ algorithm was designed well before a disaster and not able to adjust to changes in real-time to weather conditions or other factors.
An L.A. County sponsored after-action report in September produced by the McChrystal Group found that a series of weaknesses including outdated policies, inconsistent practices and communications vulnerabilities impacted the emergency alert system.
The report stopped short of placing the blame on one individual person or entity. It said the county’s emergency management department operated with inadequate staffing levels, and limited cellular coverage and downed power lines impacted evacuation details.
Attorneys recapped LA Fire Justice’s findings that show Southern California Edison’s equipment likely caused the Eaton fire to spark. The lawsuit alleges negligence and defective design and manufacture by Genasys.
The utility is facing hundreds of lawsuits and started its own compensation program with the condition that applicants to the program must waive their right to sue.
Edison has acknowledged that its equipment may have started the Eaton fire, in lieu of evidence of other explanations. But officials there note that the utility has not been found legally liable and that the compensation program is not an admission of guilt.
Stacey Darden moved to Southern California with her family in 1978 from Philadelphia. She participated in the Mentally Gifted Minors program at Pomelo Elementary. She went on to attend Eliot Junior High School and Pasadena High School. She would graduate from Bryn Mawr College with a degree in political science, and pursued a career in library and information science.
“Stacey deserved better. We all deserved better,” former state representative and now LA Fire Justice CEO Chris Holden said. “There will be a next time. The real question is will those who made the mistakes this last time be better prepared because they took accountability for what they did wrong to know what they need to fix going forward.”