A new theory suggests the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles may have reignited from scorch marks left by a previous fire, possibly caused by New Year’s Eve fireworks.
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Strong winds, which have made the current blazes challenging to contain, may have reignited the remnants of the New Year’s Eve fire—possibly even six days after it was extinguished, according to a report by The Washington Post.
An investigation found that the Palisades Fire, which caused significant damage, started in the same area as an earlier fire. It also revealed that a slower firefighter response contributed to the fire’s severity.
Residents said first responders took longer to arrive at the Palisades Fire compared to their response on New Year’s Eve, per The Washington Post.
A Victim of the Palisades Fire Recalls Waiting ‘The Longest Time’ For Rescue Efforts
Local resident Michael Valentine witnessed the start of both fires and noted a stark difference in the firefighting response. The first fire saw a quick and impressive effort, he said. However, the response to the second fire was slower and hampered by strong winds, he told the outlet.
Last Tuesday, Valentine and his wife called the Los Angeles Fire Department 30 minutes apart to report the Palisades Fire. However, he said he had to wait because the line was busy.
According to The Washington Post, LAFD crews were busy handling two other incidents elsewhere in the city and planned to send resources when they became available. A helicopter carrying water also tried to respond earlier but was unable to due to high winds.
“For the longest time, I didn’t see any police, firefighters, not on the ground or in the air. I was disappointed because the second fire was moving so fast, and there was no one there,” Valentine told the outlet.
Valentine waited 45 minutes for a helicopter to respond to the fire, but it arrived without water. Later, he tried to protect neighborhood homes by wetting them down, sustaining burns and a back injury after falling off a ladder.
Evidence Mounts For the Cause of the Palisades Fire
Michael Gollner, a mechanical engineering professor and fire scientist at UC Berkeley, weighed in on the issue with The Washington Post.
“We know that fires rekindle and transition from smoldering to flaming,” he said. “It’s certainly possible that something from that previous fire, within a week, had rekindled and caused the ignition.”
Satellite imagery acquired by the outlet, captured roughly 20 minutes after the Palisades Fire ignited, reveals that the initial plume of smoke originated within the burn scar left by the New Year’s Eve fire on Temescal Ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains.
The New Year’s Eve fire spread across four acres at a slow pace. With little wind, it took just over four hours to bring it under control.
The exact cause of the Palisades Fire remains uncertain, though investigators are exploring whether the New Year’s Eve blaze may have ignited it. State and federal teams are investigating the fire’s origin, looking for clues to determine what caused the second blaze.