What caused the palisades to burn? Residents mark New Year’s fire

PACIFIC PALISADES, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — As federal investigators continue to investigate the causes of 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 focusing on a hill above a neighborhood in the Palisades Highlands area. Officials say the team will conduct an origin investigation and review of the Pacific Palisades fire.

Residents who live nearby believe the destructive fire on January 7 could be the reactivation of a bushfire that broke out early in the morning on New Year’s Day.

Jeremy Wineberg, who lives in the Palisades Highlands, says the New Year’s Eve fire was ignored.

“The story 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 following that fire were quick.

“It was negligent in monitoring that fire on January 1 and making sure it was completely extinguished to make sure it didn’t happen again,” Wineberg said.

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

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

“Standing at the exact same X mark, looking 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 to call 911 on January 7. He was walking with his wife when he spotted flames. Robertson said he didn’t see anyone in the area when the fire broke out.

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

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

Another resident took video of the burn scar 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, too.

As for Wineberg, his house was destroyed – the only one lost in his neighborhood. Wineberg shared incredible surveillance video with Eyewitness News where alarms go off as the fire burns down her home.

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