The Palisades fire, which wreaked havoc in Los Angeles and killed at least eight people, may have reignited from scorch marks left by an earlier inferno, believed to have been caused by fireworks set off on New Year's Eve. announced the report.
Debris from the New Year's Eve fire was likely reignited by strong winds, making the current fire difficult to control even six days after it was extinguished. The Washington Post reported.
An analysis of satellite imagery, radio communications, video and interviews by the magazine shows that the deadly Palisades fire occurred in the same area where firefighters extinguished the previous blaze, and that firefighters were responding to the second blaze. It turned out that there was a delay. It quickly became one of the most destructive in California history.
Frustrated residents told The Washington Post that first responders' reaction time when the Palisades fire first broke out last Tuesday was much slower than on New Year's Eve.
Michael Valentine, who lives nearby, said he was home when both fires broke out and that efforts to extinguish both fires continued throughout the day and night.
The first response was quick and impressive, he said. However, the second flight was slower and was hampered by strong winds, he told the outlet.
Last Tuesday, when Valentine and his wife called the Los Angeles Fire Department every 30 minutes to report a possible Palisades fire, they had to wait because the lines were busy, Valentine said.
At the time, LAFD members were busy responding to two incidents in other parts of the city and planned to send supplies whenever the opportunity presented itself, according to WaPo. Meanwhile, water-carrying helicopters tried to respond early, but were unable to do so due to strong winds.
“For a long time, I didn't see any police or firefighters on the ground or in the air. I was disappointed because the second fire was so fast and there was no one there,” Valentine said.
Valentine said it took about 45 minutes to see the helicopter over the fire, but he estimated there was still no water at that point. Late Tuesday night, he walked around the neighborhood trying to wet the houses in his neighborhood. He suffered multiple burns and injured his back after falling from a ladder.
The greater Los Angeles area had been under severe wind and drought warnings in the days leading up to the wildfires. This combination helped create the perfect formula for reigniting a campfire, even one that has been cold for days.
“We know that fires can flare up and go from smoldering to burning,” Michael Gollner, a fire scientist and professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, told The Washington Post. , said it's certainly possible that something from the previous fire reignited within a week and caused the ignition.
Satellite images obtained by the newspaper taken about 20 minutes after the Palisades fire broke out show the source of the smoke overlapping the burn scar from a New Year's Eve fire on Temescal Ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains.
The New Year's Eve fire spread slowly over four acres. There was little wind, but it still took just over four hours to subside.
Hiker Darrin Hurwitz, who was near the fire just an hour before it broke out last Tuesday, said he could smell smoke, but it disappeared as he continued down the trail.
Another resident told a Washington Post reporter on New Year's Eve that the entire wildfire was “started by an idiot.” People say that to celebrate the New Year, people set off fireworks late at night, when they are not supposed to be set off every year. He also said he and his family heard what they thought were fireworks and saw fire shortly after midnight.
“You should know better. It's dry. No precipitation,” he told the outlet.
“I don't know if you've ever been camping, but when you go camping and you put out a fire, it's not like it's not hot down there. And then on Monday Santa Ana came and that's how it started. The fire was rekindled.”
It is not yet conclusive whether the New Year's Eve fire sparked the Palisades fire. State and federal investigators are searching the site of the second fire for clues as to its cause.
