Flames will appear once again over Pacific Palisades this week as federal investigators conduct a controlled fire to help determine what caused the January fire that killed a dozen people and destroyed thousands of homes. Nearly four months after the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives began investigating the Palisades fire, investigators will set fire to parts of the Temescal Ridge Trail between Skull Rock and Green Peak on Tuesday night.
Officials believe the Palisades fire was first detected around 10:30 a.m. Jan. 7 as high winds sent flames racing over the bone-dry terrain. According to the ATF, the fire test will run until Thursday. Investigators hope it will help them determine the Palisades fire’s exact point of origin and how, during a massive windstorm, it raced from the hills to the ocean. Sources familiar with the investigation say much of the focus has been on whether an eight-acre blaze sparked by fireworks a week earlier that firefighters thought they had extinguished in the same area had reignited.
Los Angeles fire officials said personnel will be present before, during and after all testing to ensure public safety and environmental protection. Investigators have not ruled out that the fire was somehow sparked the morning of Jan. 7, be it a rekindling of the older fire or a new blaze. In either scenario, the sources said, the cause of the fire probably would be sourced to humans, because there are no power poles near the point of origin and the trail area is well-traveled. In the absence of a cause, some homeowners have sued, alleging that power lines fueled the destruction.
