A chilling crime scene photograph may mark the exact spot where the devastating Palisades Fire that destroyed a swath of Los Angeles began.
Part of the Temescal Ridge trail near Via Las Palmas and Via La Costa in the Palisades-Highland community of Los Angeles was seen cordoned off with crime scene tape Monday night.
The tape appeared to surround a burn scar. KTLA reported. Fireworks are illegal in Los Angeles, but Pacific Palisades teens are feared to have started a small initial fire by setting off roadside fireworks on New Year’s Eve.
Drought-like conditions and high winds mean that although the initial fire was extinguished, it may have burned for six days before reigniting, investigators now believe, according to sources at the San Francisco Chronicle.
“There has not been a definitive determination that this was arson at this time,” said LAPD Asst. Chief Dominic Choi told the outlet. “But we’re looking at all angles.”
It is the largest of at least six fires that have devastated the Los Angeles area to become the most destructive in modern California history.
At least 24 people lost their lives and more than 12,000 buildings burned. The Palisades Fire has devastated much of Pacific Palisades, once a stunning coastal enclave home to the rich and famous.
The Los Angeles Fire Department says about 14% of the 24,000-acre fire has been contained as of Tuesday morning.
At least eight of the 24 people who died in the wildfires died in the Palisades fire.
New crime scene photos show investigators descending on the popular Temescal Ridge hiking spot as the potential source of the deadly Pacific Palisades fire.
A Pacific Palisades resident surveys the damage to his neighborhood after it was devastated by last week’s fires.
Residents have reportedly complained for some time to the Pacific Palisades Community Council about local youths starting shootings in the bone-dry area.
“There have been issues with teenagers and firecrackers lately, and they seem to come up at almost every PPCC meeting,” board president Sue Kohl told the Chronicle.
Now some are wondering if more should have been done to prevent the activity, as experts say the unusually dry conditions and strong winds created a tinderbox-like environment.
Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) descended on the Temescal Ridge Trail on Monday to investigate it as a possible cause of the Palisades Fire.
ATF spokeswoman Ginger Colbrun tentatively confirmed the investigation but said it was too early to say whether fireworks may have played a role.
“ATF-certified fire investigators did an initial assessment of the area, but the investigation has only just begun,” he said Monday. “We received additional expertise over the weekend and the team is just beginning to process the scene today.”
“People want and deserve answers,” Colbrun continued, noting that certified wildfire investigators had joined the effort.
‘However, it is too early to speculate on the cause and origin. We want to give precise answers, so we need time to carry out a thorough investigation.’
At least 24 people have died and 12,000 buildings have been burned to the ground in multiple fires in Los Angeles this month.
Firefighters in the affected Palisades area have been overwhelmed by rapidly spreading fires, amid scrutiny over the state’s response.
While the ATF was cautious about blaming the alleged fireworks arson for the fire that has devastated much of the area, locals say they are convinced it is to blame.
Don Griffin, who shared images of both fires near his home showing them with essentially the same starting point, told the SF Chronicle that he has repeatedly heard of teenagers setting off fireworks and flares in “fire danger areas.”
“It’s a place where kids hang out, drink, smoke marijuana and break bottles,” Griffin said.
Footage shared with the outlet shows that teenagers setting off large piles of fireworks have been a problem for some time, including a large explosion at the Palisades Recreation Center in February.
“Many in our community had been trying for two years to pursue and prosecute the children who had been provoking them almost every Friday and Saturday night throughout the city,” David Serota, a business manager who lost his home, also wrote this . week on social networks.
‘We sat in Palisades City Council meetings…about it. The police told us they had no resources to chase children with fireworks. Even though they had started fires before New Year’s Eve.
‘We have sounded the alarm. WE SAW SOMETHING AND WE SAID SOMETHING,’ the scathing caption concluded.
“But still we sit here, with no home, no community, and all the evidence of our lives reduced to a pile of ashes.”
As the death toll rose to 24 in recent days, officials warned that the toll is expected to rise as crews struggle to access the smoldering remains of entire neighborhoods.
Experts warn that drought-like conditions and strong winds have created the perfect conditions for wildfires to break out and spread rapidly.
It comes as Los Angeles was placed under an unprecedented wind warning amid fears gusts of 70mph could unleash a new inferno.
The National Weather Service issued a fourth “particularly dangerous situation” warning that will go into effect at 4 a.m. Tuesday, warning that winds of up to 70 mph will last until noon Wednesday.
Large swaths of the bone-dry city are under Ventura’s new warning across much of the San Fernando Valley, while areas from San Diego to San Bernardino remain under conventional red flag warnings.
The fourth warning comes after the previous three this fire season wreaked havoc on the densely populated area, including the ongoing Palisades and Eaton fires that have become one of the deadliest in California history.
Much of the area around Malibu and Pacific Palisades is also under the new warning, where at least 24 people have died and more than 12,000 buildings have been destroyed in multiple fires.
Forecasters warn that unusual drought-like conditions have turned the city into a possible fire zone as strong winds develop.
The last significant rainfall in downtown Los Angeles occurred in May 2024, and only 0.16 inches of rain has fallen since Oct. 1, compared to a historical average of 5.34 inches at the time, LA reports Times.
Climatologist Bill Patzert told the outlet that “the last nine months have been one of the driest in the historical record dating back to 1900. During my career, I have never seen such severe events in Santa Ana that so overwhelmed the normal snow season. winter rains.”