As two wildfires raged across Southern California on Tuesday, nearly doubling in size overnight and forcing thousands more people to flee their homes, the state’s utility companies are again coming under scrutiny for their potential role in sparking new blazes. Southern California Edison said its equipment may have played a role in starting one of the fires, the Silverado Fire, which had churned through about 13,000 acres in Orange County. The fire raised more concerns about whether utilities have substantially improved their safety efforts, and whether the company should have more broadly shut off power in Southern California this week. Edison’s posture stood in contrast to Pacific Gas and Electric, which turned off power to a broad swath of Northern California beginning on Sunday over fears of dangerous wildfire conditions. Fueled by strong Santa Ana winds, the fires in Orange County have put more than 90,000 […]

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