A week after its hills began to burn, Los Angeles continues to be prey to several fires this Tuesday, January 14. The fires, which started north of downtown Los Angeles before spreading more widely, have since killed 24 people and destroyed more than 12,000 homes, cars and businesses. If many more or less vague theories are circulating on social networks, investigators are working to identify the causes of this wave of fires. Libé takes stock of the hypotheses that emerge on the origins of these disasters.
Palisades neighborhood fire caused by fireworks?
The first and largest fire to hit California, the one that has devoured the Palisades neighborhood since Tuesday, January 7, could be an old reactivated fire. According to an investigation by Washington Post published Monday, fireworks lit in Santa Monica during New Year’s celebrations caused the first fire to start on the evening of December 31. According to a resident, the fire was indeed “triggered by idiots” on New Year’s Eve. Firefighters and water bombing helicopters were then mobilized to put it out.
But according to experts cited by the Washington Post, analysis showed that the embers would have been revived, possibly by violent winds. To support its allegation, the American daily relies on satellite images, videos, radio conversations between firefighters and testimonies. Since the fire started Tuesday, authorities have known the smoke was coming from Temescal Ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains, where the fireworks occurred.
Electrical infrastructure singled out by residents
On Monday, residents of Altadena, California, filed a lawsuit against the Southern California Edison company, the equivalent of private EDF in California. The plaintiffs claim that one of its electrical equipment is believed to have started the Eaton Fire, which burned 5,000 structures in the city and surrounding areas. Southern California Edison declared that “fire services are investigating” to find out if its equipment has been “involved in the triggering” of the fire and stressed that an internal investigation was underway.
According to an article in Los Angeles Times at the end of last week, A notable increase in outages on the power grid located near three of California’s major fires, Palisades, Eaton and Hurst, was observed in the hours leading up to the fires.
Since 1992, more than 3,600 wildfires in California have occurred related to electricity generation, transmission and distribution, according to U.S. Forest Service data shared by the New York Times. In recent years, power lines have been found to be the source of some of the largest fires ever recorded in California. During the summer of 2021, the Dixie Fire, the largest in California, started when a tree came into contact with several power lines.
The arsonists singled out
The hunt for possible arsonists began in the City of Angels and its region. On Monday, an undocumented man was arrested while he was near a fire. Attacked by residents of Los Angeles before the arrival of the police, the man of Mexican nationality was caught in the act trying to light debris and old Christmas trees using a flamethrower. On Friday, in the north of the city, in Azura, another homeless person was seen trying to set fire to some brush. The day before, residents of West Hills, a neighborhood in northern Los Angeles, had watched a man seen playing with matches.
The Santa Ana Winds
Arid lands, dry vegetation and temperatures higher than usual for a Californian winter provided fertile ground for this disaster. According to experts, it was also the recent Santa Ana winds that fanned the fires. Usual in this season, the gusts however this time reached an intensity not seen since 2011, reaching up to 160 km/h last week. These winds may have played a role in aggravating the situation by blowing hot embers towards areas of vegetation, dry but still unharmed.
According to National Weather Service forecasters, winds were expected to intensify in the Los Angeles area from early Tuesday until midday Wednesday. They could also prevent firefighting planes from taking off, said Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone..
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