In early September, the U.S.

Department of Justice sued Southern California Edison, alleging the utility's equipment caused the deadly Eaton Fire that swept through Los Angeles County in January.

Southern California Edison knew about the potential danger posed by the high wind event and the risks posed by power and transmission lines.

But failed to take action to prevent it from igniting a fire, the lawsuit said.

Its civil lawsuit is seeking reimbursement for the costs of containing the fire and rehabilitating 8000 burned acres of Angeles National Forest.

Putting out the fire, the department said in the lawsuit, cost more than $40 million, and the damage will require substantial effort to rehabilitate.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Los Angeles County Fire Department are still investigating the official cause of the fire, but Edison has said its transmission lines at Eaton Canyon had an increase in electrical current when the fire began, and that one idle line may have been re-energized.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the utility changes policy on how such structures are grounded after the fire, before grounding procedures were decided by engineers on a case by case basis, after they were laid out based on the type of equipment and the material the equipment is made of.

The federal lawsuit comes weeks after Southern California Edison announced a voluntary program that will allow those affected by the fire to submit a claim for a more expedient payout.

In an effort to curb lawsuits, according to its website, many of which have already been filed against the utility, victims of the fire saw this as a way to short, larger payouts.

An official cause of the fire has not yet been released.

For Calmatters, I'm Malena Carollo.