In an attempt to find out what caused the fires in LA

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

Rising above the winding roads and manicured homes that make up the Pacific Palisades, urban hikers seeking an escape from America’s famously jam-packed city have a clear view of the pristine waters of the Pacific.

Now the green, bush-lined path in the canyons is gray and burned as far as the eye can see.

Yellow police tape surrounds the path to the track. The police guarding the area call it a “crime scene” and have prevented BBC journalists, including myself, from going any closer.

That’s where investigators think the deadly fire that destroyed so many homes in the area started.

A similar scene is unfolding across the city in the north of the city. There, the community of Altadena was leveled by another wildfire in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Investigators at both locations are searching canyons and trails, and are looking for rocks, bottles, cans – any remnants of debris that could contain clues about the origin of these fires, which are still unknown.

That’s the one thing stark and devastated Angelenos are desperate to know: How did these fires start?

With no answers, some in wildfire-prone California are filling in the blanks themselves. Fingers have been pointed at arsonists, power companies or even a fire a few days earlier in Pacific Palisades that was extinguished but may have been reignited by Santa Ana winds of 80-100 mph (128-160 kmph) last week. .

Investigators are examining all of these theories and more. Dozens of leads are being pursued in the hope that clues in ignition patterns, surveillance footage and testimony from first responders and witnesses can explain why two of the most devastating fires in US history broke out in Los Angeles on January 7, killing 27 people and destroying more than 12,000 homes and business premises.

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

“It’s just too early,” Ginger Colbrun, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles division of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), told the BBC.

“Everybody wants answers, we want answers, the community wants answers. They deserve an explanation. It just takes time.”

The first sign of the Palisades Fire may have been spotted by Kai Cranmore and his friends while hiking Temescal Canyon, a trail frequented by nature lovers and California rock fans.

It’s not uncommon for visitors to bring alcohol and music, relaxing in nature at Skull Rock – a landmark rock along the trail.

In a series of videos posted online, Mr Cranmore and his friends are seen running down the canyon on the morning of January 7. His first videos show a small cloud of smoke billowing from the hill as they move through brush and rock formations in a desperate escape. Out of breath, they comment that they smelled the fire before they saw the smoke rising.

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

“Dude, that’s right where we were standing,” exclaims one person in the video as flames whip in the distance. “We were literally there,” says another.

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

“The investigators, they’re talking to everybody,” she said.

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

In interviews with American media outlets, members of the hiking group noted how scared they became when people started online attacks. One of the men said he had deleted his social media accounts.

“It’s terrifying,” one of the group told the LA Times. “Just knowing from our experience that we didn’t do it, but then seeing the amount of people who have different theories is overwhelming.”

Ms. Colbrun said investigators also spoke with firefighters who responded to a nearby fire in the same canyon a few days earlier. A persistent theory claims that a small fire that broke out on January 1 was never fully extinguished and reignited six days later as winds picked up.

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

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

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

“I don’t believe it. Personally, I don’t,” he told the BBC. “I believe a week is too long to re-establish a fire that was not fully contained.” He admitted that such incidents do happen, but they are rare.

Although Chief Marrone’s agency is not investigating the Palisades Fire, he said investigators are also looking into the possibility of arson.

“We have had numerous fires in the LA County region almost simultaneously, which leads us to believe that these fires were intentionally set by an individual,” Chief Marrone said.

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

Chief Marrone was primarily focused on the other side of town, putting out the Eaton fire that engulfed much of Altadena. It flattened entire neighborhoods, destroyed business blocks and killed at least 17 people.

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

The Eaton fire broke out shortly after sundown on Jan. 7 — hours after firefighters were subdued in Palisades.

Jeffrey Ku captured what may be one of the earliest recordings of the fire.

The ring camera of the doorbell of his house captured the moment the woman came to pull him out. “Hey honey, I need you to come here right now,” she tells him, her hair whipping in the fierce wind. “We have a very big problem.”

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

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

In a series of videos Mr. Ku documented how quickly it had spread—each new 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 – the whole sky is now glowing yellow-orange. Sirens echo around him.

The large metal utility tower that Mr. Ku photographed is now the focus of fire investigators.

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

In the week since the Eaton fire, there have already been at least five lawsuits filed against Southern California Edison, the electricity supplier that operates the tower seen in Mr. Ku’s video.

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

The statement said its preliminary analysis of the power line across the canyon showed “there were no outages or operational/electrical anomalies from 12 hours before the reported time of the fire to more than one hour after the reported time of the fire.”

In addition, the company said its distribution lines west of Eaton Canyon were “shut down well in advance of the time of the fire” as part of the fire suppression program.

Chief Marrone told the BBC that investigators are looking into all possibilities, including whether the tower may have been where the fire started – meaning the initial fire could have started elsewhere but then spread to the tower through flying embers.

He explained that the tower on which the fire was observed was not like those seen in the neighborhood. 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 usually not the cause of fires because they are computerized, he said, and the system automatically shuts off power when a problem occurs.

He noted, however, that investigators are looking into whether Southern California Edison’s systems were operating properly that night and turned off the power.

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

“We want to make sure we don’t point the finger in any direction because we’ve seen what happens when someone is falsely accused,” Gerry Magaña, deputy chief of operations, said in an interview with the BBC.

“It causes chaos.”

Additional reporting by Hannah Green and Emma Pengelly