Mandatory Fast Pay For Wildfire Survivors Would Have Prevented Public From Finding Evidence That Showed Edison Started The Eaton Fire, Legislators Need To Make Voluntary, Says Consumer Watchdog

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumer Watchdog said that if Governor Newsom's mandatory Fast Pay proposal – requiring wildfire survivors to complete the program before filing a lawsuit – had been law the public would not have learned that Edison's transmission equipment started the Eaton fire. 

Newsom's plan would make it mandatory for survivors to use the Fast Pay plan before filing a lawsuit, which could take a year or more to get a program started and have survivors navigate it. 

The evidence that Edison started the Eaton fire – video tape from an Arco station in Altadena showing the abandoned transmission line sparked the fire – was obtained by an attorney representing wildfire survivors. If the survivors had not had an attorney on their side for a year or more, the third party evidence would have been destroyed by the time survivors found representation.

"Mandatory fast pay is a ploy to bury third party evidence that can prove the utilities start fires," said Jamie Court, President of Consumer Watchdog. "The evidence that Edison started the Eaton fire would never have been uncovered but for an attorney for survivors who found third party evidence that showed Edison's abandoned tower sparked the fire. Until the evidence was published in the New York Times, Edison denied its role and said it was homeless people in an encampment that started the fire. Wildfire attorneys create the record that shows who starts fires. Delaying their work by a year or more is a way that Edison and PG&E can make sure evidence proving their culpability disappears. The legislature should not take the bait and make sure that fast pay is voluntary and lawsuits can proceed expeditiously."

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog