Authorities are looking to see if the deadly Palisades Fire and a different fire that took place on New Year’s Day were connected as both incidents broke out near the same area.
Back on New Year’s Day in the Pacific Palisades, firefighters responded to a fire during the overnight hours at a location very similar to where the deadly Jan. 7 fire began. While officials have not explicitly pointed out the origin of the Jan. 7 fire, a report from the Los Angeles Times suggested that Skull Rock – an area just north of Sunset Boulevard in the Pacific Palisades – is being looked into as a possible starting point.
Palisades Fire: Investigators zero in on origin point
Could a fire from New Year’s Day have sparked the deadly Palisades Fire? It’s just one of the many theories authorities are investigating.
According to previous interviews with Pacific Palisades residents, the New Year’s Day fire is allegedly close to where the Jan. 7 fire started from.
“There was a small fire around New Year’s Eve in the highlands, which we believe was started this all up again,” longtime Pacific Palisades resident Archie Ogani told FOX 11 on Jan. 8.
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Long-time Pacific Palisades resident Archie Ogani reflected on the devastating fire that ravaged his hometown.
Fast-forward to January 14, the Los Angeles Fire Department confirmed it is “investigating absolutely every possibility,” which includes looking into whether the Jan. 1 and Jan. 7 fires are connected.
“Even though that is a week apart, there is possibility,” LAFD’s Erik Scott told FOX 11 on January 14. “I talked to our lead arson investigators who do an outstanding job. But they, of course, they’re combing through the debris, looking at burn patterns, talking to witnesses, working with ATF. FBI is here, LAPD. So we will determine the cause.”
The NYE fire burned eight acres before it was contained, but didn’t cause any damage to structures and no injuries were reported, FOX 11 reported on New Year’s Day.
The Jan. 7 fire ended up torching more than 23,000 acres and destroyed homes and buildings across the western parts of Los Angeles County. In the New Year’s Day fire, crews were able to take down the blaze in just hours and no injuries were reported in the incident.
FOX 11’s Matthew Seedorff obtained cell phone video of the New Year’s Day fire, which ended up burning about 10 acres before being extinguished.
What caused the Palisades Fire?
As of Tuesday, January 14, authorities have not explicitly determined an official cause of the fire.
As previously mentioned in the report, the LA Times article had mentioned that Skull Rock is at the center of an investigation to see if that was where the deadly fire started.
Meanwhile, local authorities have announced multiple rounds of arrests taking place from the Palisades Fire scenes, but none of which are explicitly related to the cause of the fire. Over the weekend, there was an announcement of a man arrested for impersonating a firefighter. The alleged “fake firefighter” was accused of trying to break into one of the evacuated homes.
Multiple people have also been accused of arson across the region last week, but there are no reports explicitly singling them out for causing the Palisades Fire.
Officials also have not explicitly pointed out the cause of the Jan. 1 fire.
The feds – particularly the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives (ATF) – brought in its “elite National Response Team” to Los Angeles to investigate the cause of the Palisades Fire.
The acting special agent in charge of the investigations, Jose Medina, said the ATF has 75 dedicated members to investigate the scene in LA.
The Source: This report used information provided by the Los Angeles Fire Department, the ATF, interviews from the Pacific Palisades residents and previous FOX 11 reports.
