NEW YORK, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The mother of a woman who

was killed the Los Angeles-area Eaton Fire on Friday sued

Southern California Edison in what may be the first

death-related case brought against the electric utility in

connection with the disaster.

Multiple fires that began to burn and quickly spread across

Los Angeles in strong Santa Ana wind gusts last week have killed

more than two dozen people and charred some 40,000 acres of the

second-largest U.S. metro area.

While official investigators have not released the cause of

the Eaton Fire near Pasadena, SCE has fielded a growing number

of lawsuits accusing the utility's equipment of sparking the

initial flames.

Altadena resident Evelyn Cathirell sued SCE for wrongful

death after the remains of her daughter, Evelyn "Petey"

McClendon were found in their shared home after it was destroyed

by the blaze.

"Petey's final hours were filled with chaos and panic,"

said the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. "The

surroundings were straight out of a disaster movie with embers

blowing freely in the wind, spot fires sprouting up in all

directions, and a ceaseless wind."

Cathirell's legal action follows multiple lawsuits filed

against SCE this week by residents and business owners with

destroyed property.

Late Thursday night, attorneys for a woman who lost her

home in the Los Angeles-area Eaton Fire filed an emergency

request for SCE to preserve additional electrical equipment to

be examined in blaze investigations, court filings show.

Evangeline Iglesias, who is among those suing SCE after her

Altadena home was decimated in the inferno, asked the Los

Angeles Superior Court to halt efforts by SCE to destroy some

distribution lines and other electrical equipment in the burn

area, according to court documents.

A spokesperson with SCE said the company is focused on

restoring power to affected areas. The company said it is aware

of lawsuits related to the Eaton Fire and will review them.

SCE, which is the main subsidiary of Edison International ( EIX ),

previously said it preserved some power equipment to be examined

in fire investigations.

The law firm representing Iglesias, Edelson PC, said in the

filings that SCE told the firm in letters that it planned to

imminently remove physical power infrastructure in the burn area

unless told specifically which equipment to keep.

That level of specificity, Edelson argued in its emergency

request to the court, was unreasonable, "particularly where most

or all of that evidence is owned by SCE and where SCE has unique

knowledge of the fire's origin and spread," the filings showed.

Multiple investigations into the cause of the Eaton and

Palisades fires -- the two most destructive fires in California

-- are ongoing.