LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.—One week after the Coastal Fire erupted in Laguna Niguel, eventually spreading across 200 acres and destroying 20 homes and damaging 11 others, a group of residents impacted by the blaze are suing Southern California Edison, accusing the utility’s equipment of sparking the blaze.
The fire was declared fully contained on Tuesday. No official cause of the fire has been announced.
The residents contend, however, in an Orange County Superior Court lawsuit filed Tuesday that the blaze “was the result of [Edison’s] refusal to implement sufficient vegetation management programs, repair and update electrical hardware and adopt modern wildfire prevention practices as required by state laws, state regulations, federal laws, federal regulations and well-established industry standards.”…