A week later, the Palisades Fire surged downhill and engulfed the entire community, Kill at least eight peoplethe reason is unclear.
When the answer comes, it will likely be found on a scorched, blackened ridgeline west of Los Angeles overlooking the Pacific Palisades community, home to a popular hiking trail — and the same area where a small fire broke out six days ago place.
learn Catastrophic fire on January 7 The investigation could take months, with investigators first gathering video and photos from nearby homes and social media, interviewing witnesses and firefighters, and examining 911 calls for clues.
“All of this is going to take time,” Jose Medina, acting special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Los Angeles field office, said at a news conference Tuesday. He said 75 federal and local investigators were working on the case. “We know everyone wants answers and the community deserves answers. ATF will give you those answers, but that will happen after we complete a thorough investigation. We have no timeline on when that will happen.”
Investigators have not yet reached any conclusions, although an early focus of the investigation is potential human causesThat’s according to multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation. Possibilities include arson, accidental sparks, fireworks, unauthorized camping or the rekindling of a fire put out before New Year’s Day, sources said.
Detectors lead investigators into the ash-covered area where the fire was first discovered, searching for the tiniest clues.
Wind blown wildland fire Like a fence fire, it leaves “patterns of motion” on plants, trees, grass, rocks and other objects that, to the trained eye, can reveal how the flames spread. After marking the signs, investigators worked backwards to the suspected starting point.
“If you know how to read the patterns, the origins of the fire will become apparent very quickly,” said Ed Nordskog, a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s fire investigator who was not involved in the Palisades fire investigation. ”
Nordskog said investigators tried to narrow the search to an area of about 25 square feet, then turned the scene into a grid of about 4 square feet each. They use magnets, metal detectors and magnifying glasses to sift through tiny objects such as pieces of melted mechanical parts, match heads, glass, pyrotechnic residue and more that may explain or rule out potential causes. They may bring in a trained dog to sniff out traces of accelerants. Nearby electrical equipment, such as fences or poles, or signs for gas-powered vehicles will also guide them. Meanwhile, other investigators are speaking with witnesses who may have seen something suspicious.
The ATF’s National Response Team is working with local governments to investigate the Palisades Fire and other fires that broke out in Los Angeles County last week, which were driven by high winds and swept through hillsides and neighborhoods, destroying more than 12,000 structures and consuming more than 40,000 acres. , killing at least 25 people. Parts of the fire are still burning.
The largest Palisades fire may be the most difficult to explain, as investigators must eliminate countless potential factors in the process of determining the cause.
Theories surrounding the January 1 fire have fueled much of the public speculation.
Sometime after midnight, residents of the nearby community of Palisades Heights, part of Pacific Palisades, discovered a brush fire in the ridgeline area. Firefighters arrived and extinguished the fire before 5 a.m. it is considered included No buildings were damaged and no one was injured. The city fire department did not report the cause of the accident.
The fire was largely forgotten until six days later.
At around 8:20 a.m. on Jan. 7, Darrin Hurwitz began his routine hike on a mountainside trail near his home in the Marquez Knolls community. It’s windy – authorities have issued warnings that windy weather puts Los Angeles at high risk of fires.
An hour into the hike, he said he noticed a large patch of charred vegetation and smelled smoke as he passed a boulder known as “Skull Rock.” Hurwitz said that remembering the New Year’s Day fire, he didn’t think much of it, thinking the smell was leftover from the fire or that he detected a fire burning somewhere else in the distance.
Hurwitz, a 49-year-old attorney, said he stopped about a few hundred feet away from the burn scars and didn’t see any smoke or anything else of note. “It’s not enough to think there’s anything suspicious,” he said. Hours later, his family escaped the blaze as it swept through the neighborhood, but their house was destroyed.
Around ten o’clock in the morning, a group of cross-country runners see flames and smoke Near Skull Rock, they ran away, taking photos and videos as they fled to safety. Palisades Highlands residents reported seeing a growing fire in their home around 10:30 a.m.
Two fires in the same area six days apart have fueled speculation that the Palisades fire was started by the reignition of a previous fire. But experts are divided over whether this is a viable explanation. A wildfire that devastated the town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui in 2023 was found to have been caused by Rekindle smaller fires even though they are only a few hours apart.
Nordskog said embers can become trapped and stay hot for days or weeks after a fire breaks out, while tree roots can burn underground. This effect is common in mountain forests, but not in the coastal scrub of Pacific Palisades, he said. But it’s possible, he said.
Former ATF fire investigator Scott Sweetow said he has doubts about what happened in this case.
He said the relatively light vegetation in the Pacific Palisades area and six days before the second fire broke out made the possibility of a rekindle “incredible.”
