Investigators finish fire test in Pacific Palisades as search for cause of January’s blaze continues
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Federal investigators on Wednesday concluded a controlled fire in Pacific Palisades that officials hope will help them determine what caused the January blaze that killed a dozen people and destroyed thousands of homes.
Nearly four months after the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives began investigating the Palisades fire, investigators set fire to parts of the Temescal Ridge Trail between Skull Rock and Green Peak on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
Los Angeles Fire Capt. Erik Scott announced Wednesday that ATF “concluded fire testing along the Temescal Ridge Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains.”
“A systematic post-test walk-through confirmed all materials were cold and extinguished. ATF and the Los Angeles City Fire Department would like to thank the public for their cooperation during these operations,” Scott said.
A deep analysis of the Palisades fire evacuation paints a chaotic scenario: As the fire roared toward homes, major escape routes were gridlocked before the first evacuation orders were given.
The fire test had been expected to run until Thursday, according to the ATF. The results of the test were not immediately revealed.
Investigators have been trying to determine the Palisades fire’s exact point of origin and how, during a massive windstorm, it raced from the hills to the ocean.
“Flame location, flame size is helpful,” Matthew Beals, a special agent with the ATF, said. “It is like playing a movie in reverse. You try and bring it back to its smallest spot within a reasonable degree of scientific certainty.”
Officials believe the Palisades fire was first detected about 10:30 a.m. Jan. 7 as high winds sent flames racing over dry terrain. Sources familiar with the investigation say much of the focus has been on whether an 8-acre blaze sparked by fireworks a week earlier that firefighters thought they had extinguished in the same area had reignited.
On Jan. 1, the Lachman fire was reported about 12:17 a.m. in the hillside above Pacific Palisades by a resident whose home is about two blocks from the popular Skull Rock trail. Sources with knowledge of the investigation who were not authorized to speak publicly told The Times that the Lachman fire appears to have been sparked by fireworks.
What — or who — started the Palisades fire? Two leading theories emerge as investigation intensifies
For the last few weeks, a team of investigators from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has worked out of a command post near a popular hiking trail, where officials believe the Palisades fire began around 10:30 a.m. Jan. 7.
Just over three hours later, fire officials reported they had stopped forward progress of the blaze.
Assistant Fire Chief Joe Everett, who helps oversee LAFD’s West Bureau, which includes Pacific Palisades, said firefighters conducted a cold trailing operation at the site in which crews felt for any lingering heat along the fire’s edge, dug out every live spot, and trenched in the fire’s edges to ensure that nothing could later flare up.
Investigators have not ruled out that the fire was somehow sparked the morning of Jan. 7. In either scenario, the sources said, the cause of the fire probably would be sourced to humans, because there are no power poles near the point of origin and the trail area is well traveled.
In the absence of a cause, some homeowners have sued the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, claiming the utility failed to properly prepare for the wildfire and respond when it broke out.
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