Category: FireGrounds

While the cause of the firestorm is being investigated by the ATF, one started Jan. 7 and spread rapidly due to hurricane-force winds.

Credit. Firehouse.com

The first column of black smoke rose from the hills above Pacific Palisades just after 10 a.m. on Jan. 7. A fire in that location so close to homes would bring alarm on any day. But on this one, the Santa Ana winds were reaching hurricane force.

It was the beginning of one of the most momentous, destructive and tragic days in Los Angeles County history.

The Palisades fire went on to char 23,707 acres in the area of Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Malibu. More than 6,800 structures were destroyed, including many residences and iconic businesses along Pacific Coast Highway and homes in the hills above. At least 12 people were killed.

The Eaton fire, which erupted hours later in Altadena, burned 14,021 acres in and around Altadena and Pasadena, razing more than 9,400 structures and claiming 17 lives. It took a heavy toll on the historically Black community of Altadena, where many families of color had used their homes to accumulate generational wealth.

A month later, the crisis of the fire has given way to recovery, cleanup and talk of rebuilding.

But questions remain about what happened that day and what we can learn from it. Here are some key points from the pages of The Times’ fire coverage:

What do we know about the cause of the Palisades fire?

The fires broke out near a popular hiking trail at around 10:30 a.m. Jan. 7 and spread rapidly into Pacific Palisades and Malibu amid hurricane-force winds.

A team of investigators from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is trying to determine the cause of the firestorm.

The ATF has not commented on the investigation. But sources say one area of scrutiny is whether an 8-acre blaze that fire officials thought they had put out on Jan. 1 in the same area reignited and spread due to the intense wind.

The Lachman fire was reported at 12:17 a.m. New Year’s Day on a hillside above Pacific Palisades by a resident whose home is about two blocks from the popular Skull Rock trail. Sources with knowledge of the investigation who were not authorized to speak publicly told The Times the Lachman fire appeared to have been sparked by fireworks.

Water-dropping helicopters initially were not able to fly because of strong winds, according to the agency. But around 1:40 a.m., an aerial attack was launched to support crews on the ground. News footage captured the charge, with walls of flames towering over homes and firefighters with hoses running into backyards.

Shortly after 3:30 a.m., fire officials reported they had stopped forward progress of the blaze.

A little over an hour later, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported that firefighters had “completed the hose line around the perimeter of the fire and it is fully contained.” However, some firefighters remained at the site to mop up and ensure the fire didn’t flare up again.

But sources told The Times last week a final determination had not been made and that it was still possible the blaze started on Jan. 7.

What was the cause of the Eaton fire?

The blaze, which burned large swaths of Altadena, is being investigated by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The early focus has been on Southern California Edison power lines in Eaton Canyon, where the fire began after 6 p.m. on Jan. 7.

Soon after the fire, Edison came under scrutiny because of photos and videos taken by Eaton Canyon residents that showed a fire burning under a transmission tower just as the blaze started.

Last week, Edison revealed that its lines over Eaton Canyon saw a momentary increase of electrical current about the same time as the fire began. In a filing to California regulators on Jan. 27, Edison said a fault occurred on the Eagle Rock-Gould line, which connects the Eagle Rock substation to the Gould substation in La Cañada Flintridge.

The fault occurred about five circuit miles from the area where the fire started and caused an increase of current across the company’s transmission lines.

On Thursday, Edison went a step further, acknowledging that videos and other evidence suggested the company’s equipment might have played a role. The company added that so far, however, it “has not identified typical or obvious indications that would support this association, such as broken conductors, fresh arc marks in the preliminary origin area, or evidence of faults on the energized lines running through the area.”

“While we do not yet know what caused the Eaton wildfire, SCE is exploring every possibility in its investigation, including the possibility that SCE’s equipment was involved,” said Pedro J. Pizarro, president and CEO of SCE’s parent company, Edison International.

More than 40 lawsuits from over 600 residents have been filed against Southern California Edison accusing the utility and its equipment of igniting the blaze.

What was the cause of the Hurst fire?

Southern California Edison reported to state regulators Thursday that its equipment likely sparked the Hurst fire that burned nearly 800 acres in Sylmar.

What do we know about the fire evacuations?

The evacuations for both the Palisades and Eaton fires have been the subject of criticism.

A Times investigation of the Eaton fire showed it took almost nine hours for a large swath of Altadena west of North Lake Avenue to receive electronic evacuation orders. By then, several fires had been reported in that area, and many residents say they watched in horror as flames rapidly approached their homes. Of the 17 people who died, all lived west of North Lake Avenue.

A Times review of the Palisades fire found the challenge of evacuating thousands of residents was compounded by delayed alerts and overwhelmed first responders. Residents told The Times they felt as if they were left to fend for themselves. Streets were gridlocked at least 40 minutes before the first widespread evacuation order. As flames approached, firefighters and police told motorists to get out and run. The abandoned cars worsened the jam and prevented first responders from getting through. Residents trapped by blocked roads said they were forced to shelter in place.

What do we know about fire preparations?

A Times investigation revealed that Los Angeles Fire Department officials made the critical decision to forgo calling in scores of extra firefighters and equipment in the hours before the Palisades fire.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has also come under scrutiny because a key Pacific Palisades reservoir was empty due to maintenance when the Palisades fire broke out. Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered an investigation into the matter.

Water pressure was another issue, with fire hydrants running dry in both Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Officials said water systems that supply neighborhoods simply don’t have the capacity to deliver such large volumes of water over several hours. As fires grow larger and more intense in the West, essential questions are being raised, including: Should storage tanks and other local water infrastructure be expanded to contend with wildfires? Where? And at what cost?

Officials estimate that around half of the 4,000 gallons has been sprayed on more than 40 fire-prone acres, including at least six places where homeless people have been known to camp

By Blake Nelson – The San Diego Union-Tribune

SAN DIEGO — The firefighter pulled the black hose down a hill.

“Good?” she called out.

“All the way down,” a voice responded.

Brea Kirklen kept walking. Below her were the remnants of a homeless encampment in a small canyon by San Diego’s Valencia Park neighborhood. While the county had recently gotten some rain, the sun was again out and baking the foliage on Tuesday afternoon. Kirklen stopped a few feet from the bottom, aimed the hose’s nozzle upward and squeezed a trigger.

The clear liquid that shot out toward leaves and debris alike was a citrus-based fire retardant called Citrotech that leaders hope will limit the size of any future blazes, including those started by people living outside. Officials began spraying brush along evacuation routes last year and added probable encampment spots to the list in January, all of which should now be less likely to ignite for the next several months.

This approach to fire prevention is new for both San Diego and the nation: The company making Citrotech, Mighty Fire Breaker, only launched a few years ago and is in the early stages of selling cities on the spray, according to records filed with the federal government.

“I’ve never seen anything else like it,” said Tony Tosca, a deputy chief at the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

A central part of the pitch is that, in contrast to many cancer-linked chemicals that firefighters have long relied on, Citrotech won’t kill you. It shouldn’t even bother the plants. The company on its website touts the use of “environmentally benign chemicals” that are “safe to use around our homes, schools, pets and children.”

In 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave the company an award for using safer ingredients. One caveat: Mighty Fire Breaker notes online that the award is not the same thing as an endorsement, nor did the EPA conduct its own tests of the spray. The agency instead relied on the company for “information on the product’s composition, ingredients, and attributes.”

The San Diego Union-Tribune asked the organization for a list of ingredients and information about its safety tests. Steve Conboy, founder and president of Mighty Fire Breaker California, responded in an email that the spray is made with water and “food grade constituents” pulled from the EPA’s “Safer Chemical Ingredients List.” He sent a link to the agency’s directory of safe chemicals.

Regarding safety checks, Conboy said they’d run 90 aquatic tests at a lab in Ventura and that the U.S. Forest Service had spent months confirming the substance didn’t hurt trout or mammals. (The forest service did not immediately return requests for comment.)

San Diego’s fire department appears to be the only one nationwide that’s widely employing the spray. Conboy was not aware of others.

San Diego used a nearly $367,000 state grant to buy about 4,000 gallons of Citrotech. Officials estimate that around half has so far been sprayed on more than 40 fire-prone acres, including at least six places where homeless people have been known to camp. (Firefighters wait until after city crews clear the area.) The grant also helped pay for equipment to distribute Citrotech, including a Ford F250 pickup.

All of the sprayed sites can be tracked online through a publicly available map.

Now comes the monitoring. The fire department didn’t create a full environmental impact report before work began — city officials decided the pilot program was limited enough to be exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act — but staffers are now watching to see if the spray has any effect on local plants and animals.

Firefighters will additionally track whether fewer fires begin in areas covered by Citrotech, or if future blazes stop spreading once they reach a treated area. Hopes are high. One video from the company shows a pile of sprayed wood chips refusing to ignite despite being surrounded by roaring flames, and the product’s fans include Jeff Bowman, a former San Diego fire chief who’s now listed as a member of Mighty Fire Breaker’s advisory board.

If results are good, leaders are open to buying more.

Officials say dozens of recent blazes likely originated in encampments, and police officers are now supposed to report any fire-starting material they find outside so supervisors can alert both clean-up crews and firefighters, who should then come by to spray the site, according to acting Lt. Brent DeVore.

Kirklen, the San Diego firefighter, moved the nozzle back and forth over the canyon on Tuesday. The air smelled faintly of hand sanitizer, although some observers said they couldn’t detect any odor. The area had certainly burned before: A short walk away were more than three dozen palm trees with blackened trunks.

After a minute or so, Kirklen switched off the spray, trudged back up the hill and shot out some more. The whole operation took maybe 15 minutes. An estimated 10 gallons had been used.

Sitting in a tent across the street was 33-year-old Geryl Andrews. Andrews had been living around the canyon for about a month, following the loss of a job and some “poor decision making,” he said.

Andrews had started fires at night, but nothing that burned out of control, he added. The name Citrotech was new to him. He hadn’t known that the spray was now on nearby trees, and a reporter asked whether Andrews was still comfortable camping in the area.

“I do want more information,” he said.

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