Criminally

The Los Angeles County District Attorney is investigating whether Southern California Edison should be criminally prosecuted for its actions in last year’s devastating Eaton wildfire, which killed 19 people and left thousands of families homeless, the company said Wednesday.

Pedro Pizarro, chief executive of Edison International, told Wall Street analysts during an afternoon conference call that the company was cooperating with the District Attorney’s office. He said he didn’t know the magnitude of the investigation.

The company said in its annual 10-K report, which was released Wednesday, that it “could be subject to material fines, penalties, or restitution” if the investigation “determined that it failed to comply with applicable laws and regulations.”

“SCE is not aware of any basis for felony liability with regards to the Eaton Fire,” the report said. “Any fines and penalties incurred in connection with the Eaton Fire will not be recoverable from insurance, from the Wildfire Fund, or through electric rates.”

The District Attorney’s office declined to comment.

The investigation into the fire, which destroyed a wide swath of Altadena, has not yet been released. Pizarro has said that a leading theory of the fire’s cause is that a century-old transmission line in Eaton Canyon, which had not carried power for 50 years, somehow re-energized and sparked the fire.

Edison executives have said they didn’t remove the line because they believed it would be used in the future.

Company executives knew idle transmission lines could spark wildfires. In 2019, investigators traced the Kincade fire in Sonoma County, which destroyed 374 homes and other structures, to a transmission line owned by Pacific Gas & Electric that was no longer in service.

The Times reported in December how Edison fell behind in maintenance of its transmission system before the fire.

Despite the dangerous Santa Ana wind conditions on Jan. 7, 2025, Edison decided not to shut down the transmission lines running through Eaton Canyon. Pizarro has said the winds that night didn’t meet the company’s threshold at the time for turning off the lines.

Pizarro told investors on the call Wednesday that he continued to believe that the company had acted as a “reasonable utility operator” before the deadly fire.

Under state law, if a utility is determined to have acted reasonably it can be reimbursed for all or most of the damages of the fire by a state wildfire fund.

The conspiracy thriller series has been hailed a “masterpiece” and left fans devastated when it was axed.

Television fans searching for their next gripping watch have been encouraged to discover a conspiracy thriller series being praised as a “masterpiece”. Utopia, penned by Dennis Kelly and featuring Fiona O’Shaughnessy, Adeel Akhtar, Paul Higgins and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, debuted on Channel 4 in 2013, with its second series arriving the following year.

The sci-fi drama centres on a group of graphic novel enthusiasts who become convinced that a comic book, The Utopia Experiments, foretold various catastrophic epidemics and significant global events including mad cow disease. They embark on a quest to locate a rumoured unpublished follow-up that might contain warnings about future mysteries waiting to unfold.

After one member of the group gets hold of a manuscript, he arranges to meet fellow online forum members in person, only to be murdered shortly afterwards. The remaining four manage to meet up and obtain the manuscript, but quickly find themselves entangled in a dangerous maze of deception as a shadowy organisation known as The Network pursues it relentlessly.

Operatives from The Network will stop at nothing to secure the manuscript, eliminating anyone who stands between them and their target as they search for both the document and an individual called Jessica Hyde (portrayed by Fiona). It later emerges that Jessica’s father authored the Utopia manuscripts, and she’s spent her entire existence evading The Network’s clutches.

As the group becomes entangled in The Network’s web, their lives unravel and the organisation’s true intentions emerge. Concurrently, they grapple with understanding the unfolding situation amidst a backdrop of terrifying global events, including whispers of a “Russian flu”, which has since drawn parallels to the Covid-19 pandemic, reports the Express. However, Kelly has firmly dismissed any connections, maintaining that his work is purely fictional.

Thirteen years after its initial release, viewers are rekindling their interest in Utopia. One Reddit user seeking recommendations for British thrillers wrote: “Hello there! I’m looking for some good British thrillers to watch. I really enjoyed The Day of the Jackal, The Capture, and Steal. Anything in that vibe would be great.” A fellow user promptly suggested: “If you like a bit of a conspiracy I recommend Utopia. In my view a underrated cinematic masterpiece.”

On Rotten Tomatoes, Utopia boasts an impressive 100% rating. One reviewer described it as a “Dark, creepy, disturbing, entertaining show. This is 2013 show, but looking through events current pandemic 2020 year, it may make you feel uncomfortable.”

Another hailed it as “the best show ever made” praising it as “thrilling, suspenseful, unsettling, tense.”

Another hailed it as “the best TV show you’ve probably never heard of,” gushing: “Utopia is a masterpiece! Not only is this one of the most intense and twisted shows I’ve ever seen, it’s also absolutely beautiful! The cinematography alone left me in awe and don’t even get me started on the soundtrack! This is not your typical TV show. In fact it’s a whole lot more than just a TV show. It’s an artwork that is being unfolded in front of your very eyes.”

One devotee described it as “devastatingly sublime,” claiming the series will “ravage your senses”. Others labelled it “a hidden and forgotten gem” and “mindblowing”.

A particularly passionate viewer declared: “This is my absolute favourite show ever. Everything is done to absolute perfection. Criminally underrated and such a shame they cancelled it.”

Viewers were left heartbroken when Channel 4 pulled the plug on Utopia in 2014. A network spokesperson reflected at the time: “Utopia is truly channel-defining: strikingly original, powered by Dennis Kelly’s extraordinary voice and brought to life in all its technicolor glory through Marc Munden’s undeniable creative flair and vision, the team at Kudos delivered a series which has achieved fervent cult status over two brilliantly warped and nail-biting series.

“It also has the honour of ensuring audiences will never look at a spoon in the same way again. It’s always painful to say goodbye to shows we love, but it’s a necessary part of being able to commission new drama, a raft of which are launching on the channel throughout 2015.”

Utopia can be streamed on Tubi.