LOS ANGELES — Early on the evening of Jan. 7, a resident of a neighborhood of homes backed up against the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California saw what he described as a bright white light and then a small fire at the base of an electrical tower in Eaton Canyon. Another neighbor reported his lights flickered a few minutes before he saw fire underneath the tower.

So far, many clues to the origins of the deadly Eaton fire, which started in the area just after 6 p.m. that evening and killed 17 people, have pointed to