What Started The California Fires? Investigations Continue, But Clues Are Coming In

Photo by Don Griffin in this screen grab from a San
Francisco Chronicle Video shows the wildfire on 
Temescal Ridge near Pacific Palisades early on
January 1. This fire was quickly contained after
scorching about eight acres, 

 The wind has died down in southern California, so firefighters are taking advantage of the weather to at least attempt to gain the upper hand on these cataclysmic blazes. 

Investigations are starting as to what set these fires off in the first place. Some have been easy to solve. 

One fire started amid gusty winds in San Bernardino County, California Wednesday but firefighters managed to quickly stop it after it consumed 30 acres but no houses. 

A man was just as quickly arrested on arson charges with that fire, but as yet, we have no motive.

It might be harder to ascertain what started some of the other, larger fires. 

PALISADES FIRE

The worst of the blazes was the Palisades Fire, and there's tantalizing evidence that this firestorm has its origins with somebody being dumb within the first few hours of the arrival for 2025.

According to the Washington Post and other sources, some idiot set off fireworks in the dry brush on the Temescal Ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains not far from the Skull Rock Trailhead shortly after midnight January 1.  Firefighters responded and put out their blaze before it could get super out of hand. 

The New Year's Day fire covered eight acres and took about four hours to contain. No buildings were damaged.

The start of the huge Pacific Palisades fire in this
photo by Don Griffin, via the San Francisco
Chronicle, seems to show the origin at the about the
same location a the January 1 blaze,

The Palisades Fire started around 10:20 a.m. local time January 7, right around the same spot as the January 1 blaze. 

Experts say it is absolutely possible for a wildfire to reignite up to 10 days, sometimes even more after it was initially extinguished.  

There could have been a hot, smoldering piece of wood that was missed in the New Years Day incident  partly buried under soil or rocks.  

There it sat, until the 80 mph Santa Ana winds hit on January 7.  Blast your annoying leaf blower on a smoldering camp fire (when you're sure you can't start a forest fire!) and see what you get.

It was basically the same thing with the Los Angeles wildfires. 

Per the Washington Post, the timing of the fire's start was bad for another reason. Firefighter were responding to other incidents around Los Angeles when the first 911 calls came in regarding the Palisades Fire. That might have delayed an initial response, but I'd like to see more investigation into that before drawing firm conclusions. 

If there was a delay in getting firefighters to the scene, some procedures will need to be looked at so that doesn't happen again. 

EATON FIRE

The other large fire, the Easton Fire wiped out much of Altadena, California. The cause of this one isn't confirmed by any fire agency either, but the utility Southern California Edison is under the spotlight.

Lawsuits have already been filed against the utility, saying their equipment is to blame. Specifically, the lawsuits allege the fire "ignited because of SCE's failure to de-energize its overhead wires which traverse Eaton Canyon - despite a red flag (particularly dangerous situation) wind warning)." as KTLA reports.

Utilities have taken to cutting power to wind-prone areas when gusts are expected to reach dangerous levels and are combined with high fire hazards. 

For their part, SCE says that the cause of the fire is still under investigation and that winds in the canyons that day weren't strong enough to  reach the threshold at which power is cut. However, the utility is investigating whether the sensors were wrong.