New Year's Eve Fireworks Might Have Set LA on Fire

While there has been no official word on what has started the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles, new speculation reportedly points back to what could be a reignition of a New Year's Eve fireworks-caused fire.

The Washington Post published a review of archived firefighter radio transmissions that pinpoint the start of the Palisades wildfire to the Temescal Ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains — the same location of a New Year's Eve night fire that was ignited by fireworks and had been believed to be put out.

"The foot of the fire started real close to where the last fire was on New Year's Eve," a Los Angeles County firefighter said on the radio, the Post reported.

"It looks like it's going to make a good run," another told dispatch.

In addition to the Post's review of photos, videos, satellite imagery, and radio communications, witnesses note firefighters and helicopters had been deployed to battle a New Year's night blaze just six days prior in the same area, and state and federal investigators have descended upon that area, according to the report.

Experts told the Post that the strong Santa Ana winds could have reignited that original fire, causing mass destruction and the deaths of at least 24 with a reported minimum of six more missing in the near two weeks of the new year.

"We know that fires rekindle and transition from smoldering to flaming," University of California at Berkeley's Michael Gollner, reviewing the Post's evidence, said. "It's certainly possible that something from that previous fire, within a week, had rekindled and caused the ignition."

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is leading the investigation, which has reportedly descended on the location of that initial New Year's Eve fireworks-caused blaze.

"ATF-certified fire investigators did an initial survey of the area, but the investigation has not begun," an ATF spokesperson told the Post.

The Los Angeles Fire Department declined to comment when approached by the Post.

"This is an ongoing, active investigation, and the team will not comment on an ongoing investigation," an official said.

A local resident in Temescal Ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains noted the New Year's night fire was "started by idiots" after his family heard fireworks popping off and noticed a fire had started around 12:20 a.m. local time, the man who asked not to be identified told the Post.

"You got to know better," he said. "It's dry. There's no precipitation. I don't know if you've ever been camping, but when you go camping and put a fire out, that doesn't mean that it's not hot below."

"Then the Santa Anas came on Monday, and that's what started, that's what reignited the fire," he added referring to the strong winds that prevail out of Santa Ana.

Wells Fargo estimates losses from the still-raging fires could be between $60 billion to $130 billion, the Post reported.

"The evidence you have here indicates that it is at least conceivable that remnants from the earlier Lachman fire gave rise to the Palisades fire," Syracuse University professor Jacob Bendix told the Post. "While the passage of time reduces the probability of restarting, the elapsed time does not make it unrealistic, especially in the absence of intervening precipitation."

Bendix published a paper in 2018 detailing how a fire could smolder for up to 10 days before being reignited by Santa Ana winds.

Notably, local resident Michel Valentine, a former LA district attorney, told the Post the response to the fire last week was slower than New Year's night's, perhaps in part due to the high winds.

"For the longest time, I didn't see any police, firefighters, not on the ground or in the air," Valentine said. "I was disappointed because the second fire was moving so fast, and there was no one there."

Valentine, working with no first response help, failed in trying to put out a fire that would ultimately take his home.

"I was lulled into this sense of security," he told the Post. "The first fire didn't affect me, and it started in the same place. The first one was extinguished so quickly, and I thought the same was going to happen to this one, but I was wrong."

Firefighters warned of the rapidly surging fire over the radio last week.

"It is pushing directly toward Palisades," a firefighter called in, according to the Post. "This thing's got a wide path to travel already."