Los Angeles Mayor: Getty Fire Caused by ‘Act of God’ Tree Branch

(Bloomberg) -- A Los Angeles fire that has burned more than 650 acres and destroyed a dozen homes was sparked by a tree branch that fell on power lines, according to Mayor Eric Garcetti.

“It was an act of God,” Garcetti said Tuesday at a press conference.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, a city-controlled utility, owns the lines hit by the branch that sparked the Getty Fire. Fanned by strong winds, the blaze threatened some of the city’s highest-priced real estate, forcing celebrities including LeBron James and former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to flee their homes.

The branch was from a eucalyptus tree and the initial fire was captured on a dashboard camera of a vehicle passing on the nearby 405 Freeway, Garcetti said. Investigators are still trying to determine who owns the tree, which was more than 20 feet from the power line, he said.

California’s investor-owned utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric and Edison International’s Southern California Edison, have faced lawsuits and been found negligent for fires caused by tree branches striking power lines. The state’s municipally-owned utilities have an edge over their corporate counterparts: even though all are subject to the same liability rules, public utilities have the ability to set their own rates.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Gittelsohn in Los Angeles at johngitt@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Mirabella at amirabella@bloomberg.net, Michael B. Marois

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