Palisades Fire victims accuse LADWP of altering records and changing policies in amended lawsuit

PACIFIC PALISADES, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- As we mark six months since the devastating January wildfires, there are troubling new allegations by thousands of Palisades Fire victims in their lawsuit against the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).

They claim the utility tampered with records for a reservoir that was empty at the time of the fire, as well as power lines in the area.

The new allegations accuse LADWP of failing to comply with its own policy, then changing the policy and altering a computer log to erase an over four-hour delayed arrival to shut off power to the Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7.

"They're altering records. They're denying things that can't be denied," said Michael Valentine, who lost his home in the Palisades Fire. "You know, it seems to be that they're doing everything they can to get out from responsibility... It's beyond shocking. It's actually quasi-criminal."

Valentine is one of 3,300 Palisades Fire victims part of the lawsuit, which was amended to include new allegations accusing the LADWP, the city of L.A., and now the state of California of negligent and wrongful conduct.

Regarding the 117 million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir that was empty when the fire broke out, Public Records Act requests retrieved LADWP emails that show the reservoir's cover should have been inspected monthly and by divers underneath on an annual basis, but it was last inspected back in 2021.

"In 2024, November, in fact, right before the fire, the DWP begins identifying there's a problem in their compliance with their own policy," said Roger Behle, one of the lawyers representing Palisades Fire victims. "'Why don't we just change the policy to make it every three years?' Had they done the required inspections that their own policy required, this small tear in the reservoir would have been identified, and it would have been fixed without the need to drain the reservoir at all."

A computer log was also obtained through a Public Records Act request that shows that at 1:49 p.m. on Jan. 7, there was an order to shut off power to the Palisades as the fire raged out of control. But, it had to be done manually, and the technician didn't arrive until after 6 p.m., and had to evacuate, so power was left on in the Palisades as the winds increased.

The lawsuit alleges energized lines resulted in separate spot fires all over the Palisades. Video from the ground shows an electrical pole sparking because it was still energized as houses burned.

But, on Jan. 29, the log shows the technician went in and changed his entry time from 6:18 p.m. on Jan. 7 to 1:47 p.m.

"Why in the world, 22 days later, would a DWP employee go back in this log record and try to re-create the timeline? The roads weren't then shut down. So why would it take somebody that long to get to that substation? Looks like a cover-up," Behle said.

"I'm angry. I'm displaced. I lost my home. It is what it is. I'm going to rebuild. But, they're going to be held accountable for this," Valentine said.

In a statement, the LADWP said:

"LADWP is aware of the amended complaint filed today in the Los Angeles Superior Court. Our hearts remain with all who have impacted by the Palisades Fire and we are working tirelessly to rebuild and recover from this terrible tragedy.

As we have said previously, LADWP understands the enormous destruction caused by the fires and the rights of affected property owners to seek compensation for damages from insurers and responsible parties. But there is no evidence to support claims, nor does this complaint allege, that LADWP equipment played a role in starting the Palisades Fire, and we are confident that LADWP was not responsible for any of the tragic losses that the fire caused.

Most of the allegations in the amended complaint are not new and run contrary to information and data that we have shared with the plaintiffs over the past few months, including allegations that the Royal-Monte Grande 1 Line was energized at the Palisades end of the line on the evening of January 7. As the amended complaint concedes, the Palisades end of the line was manually de-energized by opening switches on the Encino side of the line around 2:15 p.m. on January 7. After that occurred, the Palisades end of the line which is nearest the suspected area of the fire's origin-but still over a quarter mile away from it-was not energized, including at 10:30 p.m. that night, the time at which the amended complaint alleges that the line caused a secondary ignition.

The electrical data from the line, which LADWP provided to plaintiffs' counsel months ago, plainly shows that the Palisades end of the line was off at 2:16 p.m., and devices monitoring the line recorded no faults or anomalies near the reported time of ignition of the Palisades Fire, or into the evening. In fact, LADWP took preemptive measures in the area on January 6, 2025, before the windstorm, began to prevent the Royal-Monte Grande 1 Line from "reclosing" automatically in the event of a fault on the line. With reclosing blocked, if a fault were detected on the line and the line automatically shut off, the line would not attempt to re-energize automatically-significantly reducing its potential to contribute to a wildfire.

LADWP continues to cooperate with the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), which is investigating the origin and cause of the Palisades Fire. LADWP has provided extensive information to the ATF, fulfilling every request the ATF has made-including for electrical data. Neither the ATF nor any other investigating authority has indicated that LADWP facilities were involved in the ignition of the Palisades Fire. The ATF examined the Royal-Monte Grande 1 line, which was damaged in the fire, and did not ask LADWP to preserve it.

As we confront the impacts of climate change and build climate resilience, we welcome a review of applicable codes and requirements and a holistic review of methods to reduce the risk from wildfires. LADWP also continues to review and analyze system resiliency and potential enhancements to our systems to respond to climate-driven disasters.

Regarding Underwater Inspections of the Santa Ynez Reservoir

Allegations that LADWP failed to meet its inspection schedule are without merit. LADWP consistently carried out monthly inspections on the Santa Ynez Reservoir until it was taken out of service due to water quality regulatory requirements in 2024. These inspections included dive inspections in 2020, 2021 and 2023. A dive inspection was unnecessary in 2022 due to repairs being completed that same year.

Regarding LADWP's Operations Log

Recently, the lawyers representing a group of plaintiffs in cases related to the 2025 Palisades Fire issued a press release that misrepresents a routine change entry made in an LADWP operations log by cropping out information from the log. LADWP's changes made to the log provided additional information that enhanced the log's accuracy. Any assertion that the log was fabricated is false. We write to set the record straight.

At 6:18 in the evening on January 7, 2025, LADWP's Energy Control Center logged an event from the station operator at Distribution Station 29, an electric distribution station in the Pacific Palisades. The operator reported that he was unable to deenergize a circuit fed from that station (one that largely serves areas outside of the fire perimeter), and that he needed to evacuate due to the rapidly approaching fire.

It is LADWP's practice to review log entries for accuracy and completeness. A subsequent LADWP reviewer noticed that the original entry did not reflect, for example, why the operator was trying to deenergize the circuit. So LADWP pulled the timestamped audio recordings relating to the entry, which go back to 1:47 that afternoon. The reviewer then amended the entry made on 6:18 p.m. to reflect events that occurred at 1:47, 1:49, 2:24, 3:10, 3:34, 6:03, 6:05, and 6:07. The 6:18 p.m. entry was never deleted from the log, which clearly displays the entries that recount events at earlier times.

The reproduction of the log appearing in the plaintiffs' amended complaint is cropped to omit the portion of the entry we have just described. LADWP provided the complete entry to the plaintiffs' counsel before they amended their complaint and before they issued a press release on the matter. The full log recounts events throughout the afternoon of January 7, and there was never any attempt to cover up any facts. We are linking to the complete log referenced here for full transparency."