LA County pushes to bury overhead power lines after wildfires, but telecom holdouts stall progress
Los Angeles County leaders are pushing to move electrical lines and other critical infrastructure underground following the devastating wildfires that swept through West L.A. earlier this year, according to ABC7 News.
The county’s Board of Supervisors voted to support efforts to bury power lines, citing safety and resiliency concerns. Southern California Edison has already begun relocating about 40 miles of cables underground in areas such as Topanga Canyon, Rambla Pacifico and along Pacific Coast Highway. However, officials say the process has been complicated by telecom companies that share utility poles and have declined to move their lines underground as well, as reported by ABC7 News.
“Undergrounding, simply put, saves lives,” Supervisor Lindsey Horvath told ABC7 News. “While Edison is removing their top portion of poles and undergrounding electrical lines, telecom providers who share these poles under a joint agreement are refusing to do the same.”
Public Works Director Mark Pestrella said undergrounding would not only prevent downed lines from blocking evacuation routes — as seen during the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise — but would also create more durable and disaster-resistant communication systems.
The move has gained strong community support in fire-prone regions, where residents say burying lines could improve reliability, reduce outages, and make neighborhoods safer and more visually appealing.
County leaders are now considering filing a formal complaint with the California Public Utilities Commission if telecom companies continue to resist. Horvath said she hopes to reach a cooperative agreement but emphasized that “we have to take action on behalf of our residents.”
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