Inside the effort to uncover the cause of the Los Angeles fires

The hiking trail through Temescal Valley in West Los Angeles is a favorite among locals.

Towering above the winding roads and manicured homes that make up the Pacific Palisades, urban hikers looking to escape America's famously traffic-jammed city have a clear view of the pristine waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The green, brush-lined path in the canyons was now gray and burned as far as the eye could see.

Yellow police tape surrounds the path leading to the trailhead. The police guarding this area described it as a “crime scene” and prevented BBC reporters, including me, from approaching.

That's where investigators believe the deadly fire that destroyed several homes in the area may have started.

A similar scene is occurring across the city in the north of the city. There, the community of Altadena was leveled by a different fire that burned in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Investigators at both sites are surveying canyons and paths, examining rocks, bottles and cans — any debris left behind that may hold clues to the origins of these fires, which remain unknown.

It's the one thing that nervous and devastated Angelenos desperately want to know: How did these fires start?

Without answers, some in fire-prone California are filling in the gaps themselves. Fingers have been pointed at arsonists, electric company facilities, or even a fire days earlier in the Pacific Palisades that was extinguished but may have reignited in the face of Santa Ana winds blowing at 80-100 mph (128-160 kph). Last week.

Investigators are studying all of these theories and more. They are following dozens of leads in hopes that clues in burn patterns, surveillance footage and testimony from first responders and witnesses will explain why two of the most devastating fire disasters in U.S. history ignited on Jan. 7, killing 27 people so far. People and destroying more than 12,000 homes and businesses.

But solving this tragic mystery will take time – perhaps a year.

“It's very early,” Ginger Colbrun, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles division of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told the BBC.

“Everyone wants answers, we want answers, and society wants answers. They deserve an explanation. It just takes time.”

Kay Cranmore and his friends may have spotted the first trace of the Palisades Fire while hiking in Temescal Valley, on a trail frequented by nature lovers and California stoners alike.

It is not uncommon for visitors to bring alcohol and music, and enjoy relaxing in nature near Skull Rock – a prominent rock formation along the way.

In a series of videos posted online, Cranmore and his friends were seen running in the valley on the morning of January 7. His first videos show a small cloud of smoke rising from a hill as they navigate through tree and rock formations in a desperate escape. They gasp, commenting that they smelled fire before seeing smoke rising.

In other clips, that small cloud becomes darker and flames can be seen rising above the hilltop.

“Dude, this is where we were standing,” one person shouted in the video as flames shot up in the distance. “We were literally there,” another chimes in.

The ATF's Ms. Colbrun confirmed that the hikers' videos are being examined as part of the official investigation into the origin of the Palisades Fire, saying their experience is just one of many tips and potential leads that have been reported to authorities.

“Investigators are talking to everyone,” she said.

Some online were quick to blame the group for the fire, pointing out how close they were to the fire when it broke out. Even actor Rob Schneider posted about the hikers, asking his followers to help identify them.

In interviews with US media, members of the hiking group indicated how frightened they were when people started the online attacks. One man said he deleted his social media accounts.

“It's scary,” one of the group told the Los Angeles Times. “Just knowing from experience that we didn't, but then seeing how many people have different theories is amazing.”

Ms. Colbrun said investigators are also speaking to firefighters who responded to a fire days earlier that broke out nearby in the same valley. A persistent theory is that a small fire that broke out on Jan. 1 was never completely extinguished, then reignited six days later as winds increased.

The Palisades Fire is believed to have started around 10:30 local time on January 7, but several hikers told US media they smelled smoke earlier that morning while using the trail.

A security guard working near the track told the BBC that he had seen smoke or dust for several days in the area. On the morning of the fire, he was patrolling the neighborhood bordering the valley and called firefighters when a plume of smoke formed.

But Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone dismissed speculation that the two fires in Palisades, about a week apart, might be related.

He told the BBC: “I'm not buying it. I'm not buying it personally.” “I think a week is too long to be able to reignite a fire that isn't completely contained.” He admitted that such incidents happen, but they are rare.

While Chief Marrone's agency is not leading the investigation into the Palisades fire, he said investigators are also examining the possibility of arson.

“We had several fires in the Los Angeles County area almost simultaneously, which leads us to believe that these fires were intentionally set by someone,” Chief Marrone said.

He adds that about half of the wildfires the agency typically responds to are set intentionally.

Chief Maroon focused primarily on the other side of town, putting out the Eaton Fire that had swept through much of Altadena. It destroyed entire neighborhoods, destroyed business clusters, and killed at least 17 people.

The agency is working with Cal Fire, California's statewide fire agency, to investigate the cause of this fire and where it started.

The Eaton Fire broke out shortly after sunset on Jan. 7 — hours after firefighters beat the Palisades area.

Geoffrey Coe captured what may be some of the earliest footage of the fire.

The Ring doorbell camera in his home captured the moment his wife came to drag him outside. “Hey baby, I want you to come here now,” she told him, her hair blowing in the harsh wind. “We have a very big problem.”

“Oh no!” Mr Koo can be heard saying as bright orange flames light up the sky.

At that moment, the fire was still small. The fire was burning under a large metal tower on the mountainside.

In a series of videos, Mr. Ko documented how quickly the virus was spreading, each update carrying more worry in his voice as he and his wife packed what they could to leave.

“Please God, please God save us, save our house. Please God, please,” he says in one of them. The whole sky is now glowing yellow-orange. Sirens echoed around him.

The large metal utility tower registered by Mr. Coe is now the focus of fire investigators.

Providers have been blamed for some of California's worst fires, including the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise. In 2019, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) agreed to a $13.5 billion (£10.2 billion) settlement with victims of the Camp Fire and other wildfires in the state.

In the week after the Eaton fire, at least five lawsuits had already been filed against Southern California Edison, the power supplier that operates the tower seen in Mr. Kuo's video.

The company says it has found no evidence that its equipment was responsible for the fire and is reviewing lawsuits.

It said in a statement that its preliminary analysis of transmission lines across the Valley showed that “there were no operational/electrical outages or anomalies during the 12 hours prior to the reported fire start time until more than an hour after the reported fire start time.” “.

Additionally, the company said its distribution lines west of Eaton Canyon “were de-energized well before the fire started” as part of a fire safety shutdown program.

Chief Maroun told the BBC that investigators were looking into all possibilities, including whether the tower was where the fire caught fire, meaning the initial fire could have started elsewhere but then spread to the tower through… Flying embers.

He explained that the tower in which the fires were seen was not like those seen in the neighborhoods. Instead of a wooden pole with a small, easily blown transformer or thin wires, this was a massive metal transmission tower with high-voltage lines as thick as a fist.

These types of lines are not usually the cause of fires because they are computerized, and the system automatically turns off the power as soon as a problem occurs, he said.

He noted, however, that investigators were looking into whether Southern California Edison's systems were operating properly that night and leading to the power outages.

Cal Fire cautioned against assigning any blame early in the investigation.

“We want to make sure we're not pointing the finger in any direction because we've seen what happens when someone is falsely accused,” Jerry Magagna, vice president of operations, told the BBC in an interview.

“It causes chaos.”

Additional reporting by Hannah Green and Emma Pengelly