California Secretary of State to Headline Pasadena Event for Eaton Fire Survivors

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber is scheduled to deliver the keynote Thursday at a free dinner for Eaton Fire survivors in Pasadena, where attorneys also plan to present an updated 3D video analysis of how the January 2025 fire began.

The event, called the Community Rising Dinner, is being hosted by LA Fire Justice, a Pasadena-based coalition of wildfire attorneys, fire-origin experts and insurance specialists representing fire survivors. It is set for June 25 at the Pasadena Convention Center, Hall C, 300 E. Green St., and is open to survivors, community leaders and legal advocates at no cost, according to the organizers’ event listing.

Doors open and dinner service begins at 5:30 p.m., and the program starts at 6 p.m. The public can RSVP at: https://lafjcommunityrisingdinner.rsvpify.com/.

Weber, who in 2021 became California’s first Black secretary of state and won a full term in 2022, is listed as the keynote speaker. Trial attorney Mikal Watts, the lead trial attorney for LA Fire Justice, is scheduled to present an updated 3D analysis of surveillance video tied to the fire’s origin, according to the organizers.

That fire’s origin remains officially unresolved. Cal Fire still lists the cause of the Eaton Fire as undetermined and continues to investigate. Watts and his colleagues have argued in court and in public presentations that Southern California Edison equipment ignited the blaze — a position now at the center of nearly 1,000 consolidated lawsuits against the utility, with a first bellwether trial set for January 25, 2027.

LA Fire Justice has used a technique called photogrammetry to build a 3D model of Eaton Canyon from surveillance and witness video in an effort to pinpoint where the fire started.

In a February 2025 statement describing that work, Watts said, “This is the clearest evidence that I’ve ever seen of utilities’ equipment being the start of a fire.” In an April 2025 statement on a later analysis, he said, “Wildfires don’t start without an ignition.”

Edison has not stated it is responsibile, though it has acknowledged its equipment may have played a role. A company spokesperson, Kathleen Dunleavy, points out that “the cause of the Eaton Fire remains under investigation, and this investigation is still in its early stages.”

The U.S. Department of Justice sued the utility in 2025, alleging its negligence caused the Eaton and Fairview fires.

LA Fire Justice, which operates an office at 221 E. Walnut St. in Pasadena, is led by CEO Chris Holden, a former Pasadena mayor and state Assemblymember. The coalition has held survivor gatherings and town halls in the area since shortly after the fire.