As part of the effort to discover what started the LA fires

The Temescal Canyon hiking trail west of Los Angeles is a local favorite.

Above the winding roads and manicured homes that make up the Pacific Palisades, urban hikers seeking an escape from America’s notoriously gridlocked city have a clear view of the clear waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Now the canyon road is green and brushy gray and burned as far as the eye can see.

Yellow police tape surrounds the road to the road. The police patrolling this area are calling it a “crime scene” and have prevented BBC journalists, including myself, from approaching.

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

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

Researchers at both locations are scouring the canyons and trails, and examining rocks, bottles, cans, all debris that might hold clues to the origins of these still-unknown fires.

That’s the one thing that Angelenos on the edge and devastated want to know: How did these fires start?

With no answers, some fire-ravaged Californians are filling in the blanks themselves. Fingers crossed that a fire in the Pacific Palisades was put out earlier by fireworks, power company utilities or even more, but it may have reignited last week in Santa Ana’s 80-100 mph (128-160 km/h) winds. .

Researchers are exploring all of these theories and more. Dozens of leads are being pursued as clues from burn patterns, surveillance footage and testimony from first responders and witnesses could explain why Los Angeles was engulfed in two of the deadliest fires in US history on January 7, killing 27 so far. destroying people and over 10,000 homes and businesses.

But this tragic mystery will take time to solve, perhaps a year.

“It’s too early,” Ginger Colbrun, a 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 when Kai Cranmore and his friends were hiking in Temescal Canyon, a trail frequented by nature lovers and California rock climbers.

It’s not uncommon for visitors to bring alcohol and music, relaxing in nature at Skull Rock, a landmark rock formation 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 from a hill navigating through brush and rock formations in a desperate escape. Out of breath, they comment on having smelled the fire before seeing the smoke rise.

In more clips, that little cloud darkens and then flames can be seen over the hill.

“Dude, we were right there,” one person shouts in the video as flames wave in the distance. “We were literally there,” says another.

The hikers’ videos are being reviewed as part of the official investigation into the origin of the Palisades Fire, the ATF’s Ms. Colbrun confirmed, adding that their experience is just one of the tips and potential clues given to authorities.

“Investigators, they’re talking to everybody,” he said.

Some on the internet were quick to blame the group for the fire, noting how close they were to the fire when it broke out. Actor Rob Schneider also posted about the hikers, asking his followers to help identify them.

In interviews with the US media, members of the mountaineer group expressed how scared people were as the online attacks began. One of the men said he had deleted his social media accounts.

“It’s scary,” one of the group told the LA Times. “To know from our own experience that we didn’t do it, but then to see the number of people who have different theories is amazing.”

Ms. Colbrun said investigators were also speaking with firefighters who responded to a nearby fire days earlier in the same canyon. A persistent theory is that a small fire on Jan. 1 was never fully extinguished and reignited six days later when the wind picked up.

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

A security guard working near the track told the BBC he had seen smoke or dust in the area for several days. He was patrolling the neighborhood near the canyon on the morning of the fire and called the fire department when the plume of smoke arose.

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

“I don’t buy it. Personally, I don’t buy it,” he told the BBC. “I think a week is too long to restart a fire that wasn’t completely contained.” He admitted that such incidents do happen, but that they are rare.

While Chief Marrone’s agency is not leading the investigation into the Palisades Fire, he said investigators were also looking into the possibility of arson.

“We had a number of fires in the LA County region almost at the same time, which leads us to believe that these fires were intentionally set by one person,” Chief Marrone said.

He added that half of the fires the agency typically responds to are set intentionally.

Chief Marrone has focused mainly on the other side of town, putting out the Eaton fire that tore through a large part of Altadena. It leveled entire neighborhoods, destroyed blocks of businesses and killed at least 17 people.

The agency is working with Cal Fire, California’s fire agency, to investigate the cause and location of the fire.

The Eaton Fire broke out at dusk on Jan. 7, hours after firefighters flooded the Palisades.

Jeffrey Ku captured what may be the first footage of the fire.

A doorbell camera in the Ring home captured the moment his wife came to let him out. “Hey baby, I have to get you out here right now,” she tells him as her hair blows in the strong wind. “We have a very big problem.”

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

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

In a series of videos, Mr Ku documented how quickly it spread – each update with more concern in his voice as he and his wife packed what they could.

“Please, God, please, God save us, save our home. Please, God, please,” he says at one point, the whole sky now glowing yellow-orange. Sirens echo around him.

The large metal tower that Ku recorded is now a focal point for fire investigators.

Service providers have been blamed for some of California’s worst wildfires, including the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise. In 2019, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) agreed to 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, five lawsuits have already been filed against Southern California Edison, the electricity provider that operates the tower seen in Mr. Ku’s video.

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

In a statement, he said a preliminary examination of transmission lines across the canyon showed “there were no outages or operational/electrical anomalies in the 12 hours prior to the start time of the fire until more than one hour after the start time of the fire.”

Additionally, the company said its distribution lines west of Eaton Canyon were “deactivated well in advance of the initial time of the fire” as part of its fire safety shutdown program.

Chief Marrone told the BBC that investigators were looking at all possibilities, including whether the tower could have been where a fire broke out, meaning the initial fire could have started elsewhere but then spread to the tower via flying embers.

He explained that the tower where the fire was seen is not like what is seen in the suburbs. Rather than a small, easy-to-explode transformer or a wooden pole with thin wires, this was a massive metal transmission tower with high-voltage lines as thick as a fist.

These types of lines aren’t usually the cause of fires because they’re computerized, he said, and the system automatically shuts down when there’s a power problem.

However, investigators said they were looking into whether Southern California Edison’s systems were working properly that night and the power went out.

Cal Fire cautioned against placing blame early in the probe.

“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, told the BBC in an interview.

“It causes chaos.”

Additional reporting by Hannah Green and Emma Pengelly