San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) faces allegations that its faulty equipment started a destructive wildfire that ignited and grew rapidly during strong Santa Ana winds late last week in San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano.
Dawn Yates, an 87-year-old woman whose home was near the areas burned by the Norte Fire, filed the lawsuit Monday against the utility in Orange County Superior Court. Attorney Richard Bridgford of Newport Beach-based Bridgford, Gleason & Artinian is representing her.
The lawsuit claims that the company failed to maintain various electrical equipment on Circuit 197, “which were at risk of failing.”
Circuit 197 experienced a 12-kilovolt power outage around 11:31 a.m. on Friday, the utility confirmed last week. Its outage map shows that the outage occurred in an open space area northwest of Eminencia Del Norte, a residential street in San Clemente.
Two minutes later, firefighters received the first reports of the Norte Fire, which started in the wildlands area near Eminencia Del Norte and Portico Del Norte, according to Cal Fire and the Orange County Fire Authority.
The lawsuit, citing SDG&E’s Interconnection Map, said a distribution line on Circuit 197
traverses the open space area and that a segment of the line crosses the hillside where the blaze reportedly started.
Electrical failure on Circuit 197 “(caused) molten metallic components of the electrical apparatus on the power lines of Circuit 197 to fall and ignite brush beneath those power poles and power lines,” the lawsuit alleged.
Bridgford did not respond to a request for comment about its source of information for the alleged impact of the electrical failure.
In an emailed statement on Thursday, SDG&E said it was aware of the lawsuit and would respond “through the appropriate legal process.”
“The cause of the fire and the cause of the outage on our system remain under investigation, and no conclusions have been reached regarding whether the two events are related,” the company added. “We will not speculate while those investigations are underway.”
On Saturday, SDG&E filed an electric safety incident report with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), reporting the outage on Circuit 197 and media “alleging a potential connection between the Norte Fire and SDG&E electrical facilities in the area.”
According to its website, the CPUC requires utilities to report incidents that "are the subject of significant public attention or media coverage and are attributable or allegedly attributable to utility facilities." The report can trigger a multi-step regulatory process, including audits and inspections.
The cause of the Norte Fire remains under investigation.
The lawsuit also claims the utility knew of the high fire risk in the area “well in advance” of the Norte Fire because its general location is in what Cal Fire calls a “very high fire hazard severity zone.”
“This classification put SDG&E on notice to use heightened safety measures and increased precautions when operating its electrical equipment in the Red Zone,” the lawsuit said.
According to the suit, SDG&E had left circuits in south Orange County’s wildlands “placed at the back of the queue, behind the San Diego County backcountry, for hardening work.”
“SDG&E knew that its equipment in the General Area of Origin of the Norte Fire needed hardening upgrades and failed to perform them,” the lawsuit said.
As of Thursday afternoon, the Norte Fire was at 570 acres and 98% contained, according to Cal Fire. Six homes were damaged or destroyed, the agency said.
SDG&E is the latest California utility to be sued for destructive wildfires.
Earlier this year, fire officials in Los Angeles determined that Southern California Edison equipment caused the deadly 2025 Eaton Fire. Firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze a month after it had ignited. The fire killed 19 people and damaged or destroyed more than 9,000 homes.
SDG&E has said the last time its equipment caused a vegetation fire was in October 2007. Santa Ana winds whipped the company’s power lines, creating electrical arcing and burning particles that started the Witch Creek Fire.
To date, the utility reports investing about $6 billion in projects and equipment to prevent wildfires, including undergrounding some power lines, clearing brush, building a weather center and using aviation and drones.
