UPDATE (8:20 AM): Southern California Edison has advised state utility regulators that unspecified electrical “circuit activity” occurred around the time a destructive wildfire erupted in the coastal community of Laguna Niguel.
The Coastal Fire was reported around 2:43 p.m. Wednesday in the Orange County city.
SoCal Edison says in a report to the California Public Utilities Commission that the investigation is continuing but there was circuit activity close in time to the reported time of the fire.
Last year, the Public Utilities Commission approved a settlement placing more than half a billion dollars in fines and penalties on Southern California Edison for its role in five wildfires in 2017 and 2018.
A brush fire quickly spread, tearing through an Orange County neighborhood and destroyed more than a dozen homes so far. It's just one of many wildfires burning throughout the West.
More people in northern New Mexico are being warned they might have to flee as a wildfire heads toward mountain resort towns.
Fire officials said at a briefing Wednesday night that the fastest moving flames were heading farther northeast, away from the area's biggest population center in Taos. But evacuations continued to expand southeast of there and officials warned another windy day was forecast Thursday before weather conditions are expected to improve.
In Southern California, a wildfire erupted Wednesday in the coastal community of Laguna Niguel and burned more than 20 homes, many of them multimillion-dollar mansions. No injuries were reported.