The deadly Palisades fire may have been caused by the reignition of a New Yearโs Eve fire caused by fireworks, according to evidence from Brianna Sacks, Joyce Sohyun Lee, Imogen Piper, and Aaron C. Davis of The New Zealand Herald. Satellite imagery and radio communications suggest the new blaze started near the previous fire’s burn scar, raising the possibility that smoldering remnants reignited in windy conditions. Investigators are looking into the cause. They write:
About 30 minutes after theย Palisades fireย started on Tuesday, the firefightersโ radio crackled: the flames were coming from a familiar sliver of a mountain ridge.
โThe foot of the fire started real close to where the last fire was on New Yearโs Eve,โ said a Los Angeles County firefighter, according to aย Washington Postย review of archived radio transmissions.
โIt looks like itโs going to make a good run,โ one chimed into the dispatch.
Theย Postโs analysis of photos, videos, satellite imagery and radio communications, plus interviews with witnesses, offers new evidence that the Palisades fire started in the area where firefighters had spent hours using helicopters to knock down a blaze six days earlier. […]
Investigators from state and federal agencies descended on this area in recent days, interviewing residents and looking for evidence โ including around the burn scar of the New Yearโs Eve fire โ of what sparked the fire.
Theย Postโs analysis showed the new fire started in the vicinity of the old fire, raising the possibility the New Yearโs Eve fire was reignited, which could occur in windy conditions, experts said. […]
From Colorado to California to Hawaii, flare-ups of previous fires, known as reignition, have been the cause of some of the nationโs most catastrophic andย deadly wildfires. This past summer, California officials co-ordinated a social media campaign to warn residents that terrain scorched but seemingly extinguished can spawn deadly new fires for weeks after the old ones appear to have gone out because fire can smoulder almost undetected under ground or inside wood.
Theย Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosivesย (LAFD) is taking the lead on the investigation, officials said. In response to questions about reignition as a possible cause, the LAFD said, โThis is an ongoing, active investigation and the team will not comment on an ongoing investigation.โ
From the start of the fire on Tuesday, authorities have known the smoke began in a stretch of Temescal Ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains where the earlier fire, believed by residents to have been sparked by fireworks, occurred. […]
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