Six months have passed since the two major fires broke out in Los Angeles on January 7th, and the cause of the fires is still under investigation. The Eaton Fire and the Palisades Fire rank as the second and third most destructive fires in California, closely following the 2018 Camp Fire.
For the residents of the disaster area, the serious consequences brought about by the two wildfires on the same day may not be easily forgotten for many years to come. Fueled by strong winds, the fires rapidly spread and with the wind’s assistance, they burned fiercely, lasting for a month before being completely extinguished.
The Palisades Fire broke out on January 7th at 10:30 am, burning from the mountains in the west of Los Angeles all the way to the coastline, covering an area of 23,707 acres, destroying 6,833 buildings, damaging 973 buildings, and resulting in the loss of 12 lives.
How did this deadly and destructive fire occur? Agencies such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD), and the County Fire Department (LACoFD) have been conducting investigations and research.
The location where the fire occurred was near where the Lachman Fire, a 10-acre brush fire caused by New Year’s midnight fireworks, was quickly contained earlier that day. Investigators have divided the hillsides and pathways into a grid for search purposes, collected 90 hours of video footage, conducted 50 interviews, and in late April, the ATF conducted a series of nighttime burn tests. Investigators have expressed that everyone is eager for answers, but it takes time to thoroughly investigate.
Looking back at past destructive fires in California, the causes of wildfires have included power lines, electricity, reignition, arson, lightning, and pyromania.
The investigation into the Palisades Fire has largely ruled out factors such as power facilities and lightning. A suspect of arson was arrested in January, but the police have not yet released the investigation results.
Could the embers of the Lachman Fire have smoldered underground for days, weeks, or even longer before a “rekindling” occurred? According to KTLA, retired fire investigator Ed Nordskog believes this is “plausible and likely.”
However, Assistant County Fire Chief Joe Everett reassured the community that “the fire has been extinguished,” with firefighters conducting mop-up operations and patrolling the site for at least 36 hours thereafter.
Jeremy Wineberg, a resident of the Palisades Highlands whose home was destroyed in the Palisades Fire, is convinced there must be a connection between the Lachman Fire and the Palisades Fire, as both fires reportedly produced similar smoke in the same location according to a news report on ABC 7.
Eric Robertson, one of the earliest people to call 911 on January 7th, recalls that when he and his wife were out for a walk, the winds were so strong that they could lift 6 inches of thick mud. He mentioned that if the previous firefighters had shoveled and buried the remaining embers, the situation might have been different.
Less than eight hours after the Palisades Fire, at 6:18 pm on January 7th, the Eaton Fire broke out in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles, covering an area of 14,021 acres, destroying 9,413 buildings, damaging around 1,073 buildings, and resulting in the loss of 18 lives.
The fire started near Edison Company’s high-voltage power lines in Eaton Canyon, an area covered with brush, amidst Santa Ana winds reaching nearly 100 miles per hour that night.
Pedro Pizarro, CEO of Edison Company, stated in an interview with CNBC in January that the distribution lines supplying power to nearby homes had been shut off two hours before the Eaton Fire started, but the transmission lines passing through the canyon were not disconnected as those transmission towers were more robust and could operate in strong winds.
Michael Wara, Director of Stanford University’s Climate and Energy Policy Program, pointed out that the four transmission lines in the Eaton Fire area are a crucial part of a larger power system. Shutting them down would bring about chain reactions and leave millions of people in darkness.
Edison Company indicated that they had spent $1.8 billion in 2024 on reducing wildfire risks, including inspecting and upgrading transmission and distribution infrastructure more frequently than required by state regulatory agencies.
As for the cause of these fires, there is currently no official conclusion. However, it is certain that strong winds, inflammable brush, and natural conditions like water scarcity have exacerbated the fires and posed challenges to firefighting efforts.