What caused the Palisades Fire? Residents point to New Year’s Day flames

PACIFIC PALISADES, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — As federal investigators continue their investigation into what caused the deadly Palisades fire, some residents believe the fire may have started nearly a week earlier.

Investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are closing in on a hillside over a neighborhood in the Palisades Highlands area. Officials say the team will conduct an origin and cause investigation of the Pacific Palisades fire.

Residents living nearby believe the devastating January 7 fire could have been a re-ignition of a brush fire that started in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day.

Palisades Highlands resident Jeremy Wineberg says the New Year’s Eve fire was ignored.

“The story kind of came and went. Nobody knew about the fire,” Wineberg said.

The Jan. 1 fire burned less than 10 acres near Wineberg’s home. Wineberg and other residents say cleanup efforts after the fire were swift.

“This was negligence in monitoring that fire on Jan. 1 and making sure it was completely burned out to make sure this didn’t happen again,” Wineberg said.

Wineberg lives south of the Skull Rock Trailhead and says the smoke from both fires was in the same location.

“Is there a connection? One hundred percent there is a connection,” Wineberg said.

“When you stand in the exact same x-mark and look in the same direction, you will see the same cloud of smoke in the exact same place,” he added.

Eric Robertson was one of the first 911 callers on January 7th. He was out for a walk with his wife when he saw flames. Robertson says he didn’t see anyone in the area when the fire started.

Residents heard that the New Year’s fire may have been caused by fireworks.

“We were in the neighborhood on New Year’s morning, and we were mostly in the neighborhood all day, and we heard some fireworks going off around us,” Robertson said. “The wind was strong enough to uncover six inches of dirt, certainly if the previous firefighters had shoveled and if the embers were buried, maybe.”

Another resident took video of the burn on Jan. 1, just 90 minutes before the massive Palisades fire broke out. That resident told Eyewitness News he believes the first fire started there as well.

As for Wineberg, his home was destroyed—the only thing lost on his block. Wineberg has shared incredible surveillance video with Eyewitness News, where alarms can be heard going off as the fire engulfs his home.

The New Year’s fire burned eight acres and no structures were damaged. The Palisades fire has burned more than 23,000 acres and has destroyed more than 2,000 structures, according to CalFire.