While Los Angeles continues to burn, many are already starting to look at possible causes of the conflagrations that have destroyed thousands of homes and resulted in the deaths of nearly 30 people.

A consistent theme has emerged, pointing to what has become a customary culprit in the history of wildfires—utilities.

As Reuters reports, California utilities have come under increasing scrutiny. The report notes that Southern California Edison (SCE) was the subject of several lawsuits on Jan. 13 claiming that its equipment started the devastating Eaton Fire in the hills above Altadena, a community that borders Pasadena. The same report says that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has also come under scrutiny for the lack of sufficient water to fight the Palisades Fire.

Shortly after the fires began, SCE released its first “safety incident” in which it said that it had been asked by lawyers representing insurance companies to preserve equipment that could have been linked to the cause of the fire.

SCE, the largest of Southern California’s power utilities, explained in the report that heightened press about the fires and the preservation notices from lawyers suggest that its equipment could have been a contributing factor in the fires, which compelled it to release the report out of “an abundance of caution.”

However, the company also points out that no fire agencies have suggested the culpability of its equipment, and its own analysis shows no anomalies in power delivery until at least an hour after the fires began.

The LADWP, has also quickly come under scrutiny. The agency has been criticized for the lack of sufficient pressure in hydrants that firefighters used to battle the Palisades Fire.

Both utilities have been criticized for not completely shutting off power during the heavy winds that preceded the fires. Energized power lines can start wildfires when lines touch, poles fall or tree branches come into contact with the lines during heavy windstorms like the one that preceded the LA fires. Wind gusts in the area reportedly reached 100 miles per hour.

While the rush to find a cause is understandable, and power lines have often been implicated in past wildfires, it is also too early to tell with certainty as the fires continue to burn. In comments to the Los Angeles Times, Ginger Colbrun, the Los Angeles public information officer for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is leading the investigation into the origins of the Palisades Fire, said that “to jump to any conclusions right now is speculation.”