Power lines, pedestrians, arson: What could have caused LA’s devastating fires?

The hiking trail through Temescal Canyon in West Los Angeles is a favorite of locals.

Perched above the winding streets and well-kept homes that make up the Pacific Palisades, urban walkers looking to escape America’s famously gridlocked cities have a clear view of the pristine waters of the Pacific.

Now the green, bushy path through the valleys has turned gray and burnt as far as the eye can see.

Yellow police tape cordons off the approach to the trail. Police guarding the area are calling it a “crime scene” and are preventing BBC reporters, including me, from getting closer.

Investigators believe this is where the deadly fire that destroyed so many homes in the area may have started.

A similar scene is playing out across the city in the north. There, the community of Altadena was destroyed by a separate fire in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Investigators at both locations are scouring canyons and trails, and examining rocks, bottles, cans – any debris left behind that could provide clues to the origins of these blazes, which are still unknown.

It’s something that’s on edge and devastated Angelenos are desperate to know: How did these fires start?

Without answers, some people in fire-prone California are filling the gaps themselves. Fingers have been pointed at arsonists, power company utilities or even the Pacific Palisades fire a few days earlier, which was extinguished but sustained winds of 80–100 mph (128–160 kph) last week. The storm has flared up again due to the fast-moving Santa Ana winds. ,

Investigators are looking into all those theories and others. They are following dozens of leads in the hope that clues from burning patterns, surveillance footage and testimony from first responders and witnesses can explain why Los Angeles saw two of the most devastating fire disasters in U.S. history on Jan. 7 , in which 27 people have died so far. people and destroyed more than 10,000 homes and businesses.

But this tragic mystery will take time to solve – possibly up to a year.

“It’s very early,” Ginger Colbrun, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles division of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), told the BBC.

“Everyone wants answers, we want answers, the community wants answers. They deserve an explanation. It just takes time.”

The first sign of the Palisades Fire may have been seen by Kai Cranmore and his friends while they were hiking in Temescal Canyon, frequented by nature lovers and California rockers alike.

Bringing wine and music, it is not uncommon for visitors to relax in nature by Skull Rock – a historic rock formation along the way.

In a series of videos posted online, Mr Cranmore and his friends are seen running through the valley on the morning of January 7. Their first video shows a small cloud of smoke rising from a hill as they make a desperate run through bushes and rock formations. He is out of breath and comments that he could smell the fire before seeing the smoke rising.

In the following clip, that small cloud becomes darker and flames can later be seen rising to the top of the hill.

“Man, we were standing right here,” a man yells in the video as flames spread far and wide. “We were literally there,” comes another voice.

The pedestrians’ video is being examined as part of the official investigation into the origins of the Palisades Fire, with the ATF’s Ms. Colbrun confirming that her experience is one of several tips and possible leads flagged to authorities. Is.

“Investigators, they’re talking to everyone,” she said.

Some people on the Internet immediately blamed the group for the fire, given how close they were to the fire when it erupted. Even actor Rob Schneider posted about the pedestrians and asked his followers to help identify them.

In interviews with American media outlets, members of the marching group described how frightened they became when people began attacking online. One of the men said he had deleted his social media accounts.

“It’s scary,” one of the group told the LA Times. “Just knowing as a fact of our experience that we didn’t do it, but then seeing the number of people with different theories is overwhelming.”

Ms. Colbrun said investigators were also talking to firefighters who responded to a blaze in the same valley a few days earlier. A persistent theory holds that the small fire that started on January 1 was never completely extinguished and flared up again six days later due to shifting winds.

The Palisades fire is believed to have erupted around 10:30 a.m. local time on January 7, but several hikers told US media that they smelled smoke as they walked along the trail in the morning.

A security guard working near the trail told the BBC he had seen smoke or dust in the area for several days. On the morning of the fire, he was patrolling the area bordering the valley and when he saw a plume of smoke rising, he called firefighters.

But Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marone dismissed speculation that the two Palisades fires, which occurred about a week apart, could be linked.

“I don’t buy it. Personally, I don’t buy it,” he told the BBC. “I believe that a week is too long to reestablish a fire that has not been completely contained.” He acknowledged that such incidents do happen but they are rare.,

Although Chief Marone’s agency is not leading the investigation into the Palisades fire, he said investigators are also looking into the possibility of arson.

“There have been multiple fires occurring almost simultaneously in the L.A. County area, leading us to believe that these fires were intentionally set by someone,” Chief Marone said.

He says about half of the brushfires the agency typically responds to are intentionally set.

Chief Marrone is primarily focused on another part of the city, extinguishing the Eaton Fire that has engulfed much of Altadena. It devastated entire neighborhoods, destroyed blocks of businesses, and killed at least 17 people.

The agency is working with Cal Fire, California’s statewide fire agency, to investigate the cause and location of the fire.

The fire broke out in Eaton shortly after sunset on January 7 – just hours after firefighters were overwhelmed in the Palisades.

Jeffrey Koo captured some of the first footage of the fire.

The Ring doorbell camera installed at his home captured the moment his wife came to pull him out. “Hey babe, I want you to come out here right now,” she tells him, her hair blowing in the strong wind. “We have a huge problem.”

“Oh no!” Mr Koo can be heard saying as bright orange flames light up the sky.

At that time, the fire was still small. It was blazing beneath a large metal utility tower on the hill.

In a series of videos, Mr Koo described how quickly it spread – with each update showing more concern in his voice as he and his wife packed whatever they could to leave .

“Lord, please God save us, save our home. Please God, please,” he says in one – the entire sky now glowing yellow-orange. Sirens echo around him.

The large metal utility tower recorded by Mr Koo is now the focus of fire investigators.

Utility providers have been blamed for some of California’s worst fires, including the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise. In 2019, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) agreed to a $13.5 billion (£10.2 billion) settlement with victims of the Camp Fire and other wildfires in the state.

In the week since the Eaton fire, at least five lawsuits have already been filed against Southern California Edison, the electricity provider that operates the tower seen in Mr. Koo’s video.

The company says it has found no evidence that its devices were responsible for the fires and that it is reviewing the lawsuits.

In a statement, it said preliminary analysis of transmission lines in the valley showed “no interruptions or operational/electrical anomalies from 12 hours before the alleged time of the fire to more than an hour after the alleged time of the fire.” Wasn’t.” ,

Additionally, the company said that as part of its fire safety shut-off program, its distribution lines west of Eaton Canyon “were de-energized well before the reported time of the fire”.

Chief Marone told the BBC that investigators were looking at all possibilities, including whether the tower might have been the site where the fire started – meaning the initial fire might have started somewhere else, but then the fire was destroyed by flying embers. Through this it spread till the tower.

He said the tower where the fire was seen was not like the towers seen in the neighbourhood. Instead of small, easily blown-out transformers or wooden poles with thin wires, it was a massive metal transmission tower with high voltage lines as thick as fists.

These types of lines typically don’t cause fires because they are computerized, he said, and the system automatically shuts off power if there is a problem.

However, he said investigators were looking into whether Southern California Edison’s system had functioned properly that night and cut off power.

Cal Fire cautioned against placing any blame so early in the investigation.

“We want to make sure we’re not pointing any fingers in any direction because we’ve seen what happens when someone is falsely accused,” Gerry Magana, deputy chief of operations, told the BBC in an interview. “

“It causes chaos.”

Additional reporting from Hannah Green and Emma Pengelly