Altadena Edison – Angry Eaton wildfire survivors in Altadena ask county leaders to halt Edison’s undergrounding—citing unexpected costs, poor coordination, and concern for remaining trees.
Altadena wildfire survivors say a major utility project meant to improve safety has instead added new stress at a moment they’re still rebuilding their lives.
More than 120 residents and the city council sent a letter to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors asking officials to temporarily stop Southern California Edison’s undergrounding work in their community.. They argue the project has been marked by “manifest failures. ” as Edison crews tear up streets. dig trenches for buried electric lines. and in the process expose homeowners to new financial obligations.
In the letter. residents describe a pattern of unplanned work that has landed on them just as they are trying to recover from the Eaton Fire.. They say the undergrounding is not only disrupting daily life. but also creating a cost burden for homeowners—especially those who were already facing insurance gaps and rebuilding delays after losing their homes.
A central part of the dispute involves how much residents may end up paying to connect their properties to the new underground system.. Edison has said homeowners who want to switch from overhead connections to buried lines will be able to keep existing overhead lines if they’re concerned about costs.. Still. residents’ complaints suggest many are being forced to make decisions quickly. often without clarity on timing. total expense. and whether their property access and reconstruction schedules will align with the utility’s construction.
Tree roots, trenches, and the fight over local oversight
The anger is also rooted in the physical changes residents say their neighborhoods are experiencing.. Residents say Edison crews have dug around oak and pine trees that survived last year’s fire.. Arborists have warned that the trenches could damage tree roots and threaten trees that represent what’s left of Altadena’s pre-fire landscape.
The issue is more than aesthetic. Tree canopy can cool neighborhoods, stabilize soil, and preserve community identity after a disaster. For many residents, the remaining trees are among the few visible signs that the town still has a future worth protecting.
County planning officials have already raised concerns about tree protections. including the idea that local ordinances protecting oak trees apply to utility work.. Residents argue that the execution of undergrounding has not adequately accounted for those rules or for the reality of rebuilding around living infrastructure.
Why homeowners say the timing is making recovery harder
Beyond costs and trees. residents say the undergrounding project has been implemented in a way that increases confusion during a period when coordination is crucial.. They point to how crews have appeared unexpectedly and to the sense that residents are not being brought into the planning process early enough.
They also highlight an additional complication: telecommunications lines.. Even as Edison buries its electric lines. residents say telecom providers such as Spectrum and AT&T have not agreed to bury their wires in the same trenches.. That means residents may end up with a mixed landscape—underground power for the neighborhood but overhead telecom cables on poles—an outcome residents describe as visually undesirable.
That mismatch may also affect planning for homeowners who are already coordinating contractors, landscaping, permits, and re-construction schedules.. When underground projects proceed unevenly across utilities. it can force residents to rework parts of their plans or extend the disruption longer than expected.
For many families. the practical impact is immediate: streets disrupted for digging. changes to where equipment may be placed. and added decisions about electrical access while they’re trying to close up their lives after a fire.. One resident described financial strain tied to rebuilding with an insurance shortfall—saying it’s not reasonable to shoulder what they see as the utility’s infrastructure costs.
What Edison says—and what happens next
Edison spokesman Scott Johnson said the company is working to address the community’s concerns. including reviewing funding options that could help with homeowners’ costs.. He said Edison would allow homeowners who are worried about costs to keep existing overhead lines connecting their homes to the grid.
Johnson also said Edison has trained crews to use equipment designed to avoid roots and preserve tree health. The company has previously argued that undergrounding the electric grid as Altadena rebuilds will make power service safer and more reliable.
But residents’ core argument is about sequencing and oversight: they want the work halted until issues they’ve identified—cost clarity. coordination with residents. and protection of remaining trees—are resolved.. The council voted unanimously to send the letter Tuesday night. elevating the complaint from a neighborhood frustration to a formal request aimed at county leadership.
The dispute has broader implications for how infrastructure rebuilding works in disaster zones across the country.. When a utility project is rolled out amid recovery, trust becomes as important as construction.. If residents believe they are being asked to absorb new costs or are seeing rules applied inconsistently. it can sour cooperation and slow the shared effort to make communities safer.
Edison previously announced plans to underground and rebuild its grid in Altadena and Malibu. citing a large investment—while residents argue the structure of utility rules can translate into significant long-term payments for households.. Even if the ultimate goal is a more resilient system. the question becomes whether the path to get there reflects the realities of families still living through recovery.
At the center of the moment is a practical uncertainty: whether the undergrounding timeline will align with rebuilding timelines for homes and whether residents will feel confident that their property access and tree canopy won’t be further damaged.. For now. residents are urging officials to pause the work while those questions are answered—and while the community tries to keep rebuilding from becoming another phase of loss.