What was the cause of the Pacific Palisades fire?

What was the cause of the Pacific Palisades fire?

퍼시픽 팰리세이즈 화재의 원인은 무엇이었습니까?

 

The Independent

Story by Joe Sommerlad

14/01/2025

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvd5wp5Xh4o

Jan 12, 2025

California fire tornados formed as strong winds whipped up flames in the Pacific Palisades wildfires. The tornado was spotted on Friday night (10 January) as the wildfires blazed through the San Fernando Valley in California. Strong winds have been blamed for turning wildfires into infernos that leveled entire neighbourhoods in the LA area, where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.

 

 

As Los Angeles firefighters continue to battle the January wildfires that have laid siege to southern California for almost a week, attention is beginning to turn to what exactly ignited the blazes.

The fires have so far killed at least 24 people, destroyed some 12,000 homes, scorched 40,000 acres of ground and forced the mass evacuation of residents, as emergency responders, including the National Guard, fight to bring the flames under control and restore order.

로스앤젤레스 소방관들이 거의 일주일 동안 남부 캘리포니아를 포위하고 있는 지난 1월 산불과 사투를 계속하고 있는 가운데, 불길에 불을 붙인 정확한 원인에 관심이 쏠리고 있다.

이 화재로 지금까지 최소 24명이 사망하고, 약 12,000채의 가옥이 파괴되었으며, 40,000에이커의 땅이 불에 탔고, 주민들의 대규모 대피가 불가피했으며, 주 방위군을 포함한 응급 구조대원들이 불길을 통제하고 질서를 회복하기 위해 싸우고 있습니다.

 

 

The first and biggest of the infernos to erupt commenced on Tuesday January 7 and became known as the Palisades Fire after it tore through the affluent neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, home to many Hollywood celebrities and famous faces.

While the causes of the Palisades Fire has not yet been officially established and the authorities have not yet ruled out the possibility of arson, an extensive investigation by The Washington Post has suggested it may have commenced when an earlier blaze caused by New Year’s Eve fireworks was rekindled.

The newspaper’s findings indicate the area’s strong Santa Ana winds may have served to reignite that fire after it lay smouldering undetected underground or within wood in the week after it was first put out, whipping it up into the much larger disaster that ensued.

1월 7일 화요일에 시작된 첫 번째이자 가장 큰 지옥은 많은 할리우드 유명인과 유명 인사의 고향인 퍼시픽 팰리세이즈의 부유한 지역을 휩쓸고 지나간 후 팰리세이즈 화재로 알려지게 되었습니다.

팰리세이즈 화재의 원인은 아직 공식적으로 밝혀지지 않았고 당국은 아직 방화 가능성을 배제하지 않았지만 워싱턴 포스트의 광범위한 조사에 따르면 새해 전야 불꽃놀이로 인한 초기 화재가 다시 불이 붙었을 때 시작되었을 수 있습니다.

이 신문의 조사 결과에 따르면, 이 지역의 산타아나 강풍은 화재가 처음 진압된 후 일주일 동안 지하나 나무 속에서 감지되지 않은 채 연기를 내뿜으며 화재에 재점화되어 훨씬 더 큰 재앙으로 번졌을 수 있다고 지적했다.

 

The Post said its analysis “showed that the new fire started in the vicinity of the old fire, raising the possibility that the New Year’s Eve fire was reignited, which can occur in windy conditions, experts said”.

 

It explained that it had reached its conclusion after reviewing photographs, videos and false-color satellite imagery to trace the burn scar left by the New Year’s blaze along the Temescal Ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains, as well as eye-witness interviews with residents and archived radio transmissions between emergency responders.

“The foot of the fire started real close to where the last fire was on New Year’s Eve,” a Los Angeles County firefighter can be heard observing in one such transmission quoted by the newspaper, dating from last Tuesday.

“It looks like it’s going to make a good run,” a colleague answers in the dispatch.

Agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are understood to be leading the official investigation into what happened and have declined to comment on an ongoing inquiry that they said could take “weeks or months” to wrap up with a definitive answer in place.

 

A Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson explained that it is not its practice to continue to patrol fire sites that have been extinguished and turned cold, although pointed out that it does make a practice of warning against the dangers of reignition on social media, pointing to a publicity campaign it put out last summer.

One unnamed local resident told the Post they were confident the New Year’s Eve blaze was behind the Palisades Fire, saying the former was “started by idiots” heading into the hills to party and set off fireworks to ring in 2025.

People flee the advancing Palisades Fire by car and on foot (AP)

 

“You got to know better,” he commented.

“It’s dry. There’s no precipitation. I don’t know if you’ve ever been camping, but when you go camping and put a fire out, that doesn’t mean that it’s not hot below.

“Then the Santa Anas came on Monday, and that’s what started, that’s what reignited the fire.”

The importance of determining precisely how the Palisades Fire burst into life comes as local residents and businesses consider taking legal action in pursuit of damages.

The Wells Fargo bank has estimated that the final cost of the disaster could lie anywhere between $60bn and $130bn.

 

 

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