Investigators are looking for the culprit behind the California fires
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has declared a public health emergency in California to address the health impacts from the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles County .
This comes as investigators are studying a range of possible ignition sources for the massive fires that have killed at least 11 people and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses in the Los Angeles area.
In the upscale mountain area of Pacific Palisades, home to Hollywood stars such as Jamie Lee Curtis and Billy Crystal who lost their homes in the fire, officials determined the origin of the wind-triggered fire behind a house on Piedra Morada drive, which is located above a densely wooded valley.
Although Lightning is the most common source of fires in the United States, according to the National Fire Protection Association, Investigators were able to quickly rule it out.
There were no reports of lightning in the Palisades area or the terrain surrounding the Eaton fire, which started in eastern Los Angeles County and also destroyed hundreds of homes.
The next two most common causes: arson, and fires that flare up due to utility lines.
John Lentini, the owner of a fire scientific analysis company in Florida, who investigated large fires in California including the Oakland Hills fire in 1991, said the size and scope of the fire do not change the approach to finding out why it broke out.
Lentini added, “This was a small fire one day. People will focus on where the fire started, identify its source, and then look around and determine the cause,”he said.
So far, there have been no official indications that the fire was deliberate, and utility lines have not yet been identified as the cause.
Terri prosper, the committee’s communications director, said by email that utility companies are required to report to the California Public Utilities Commission when they learn of “electrical incidents potentially related to a wildfire”. Employees of the California Public Utilities Commission will then investigate to see if there have been violations of state law.
Investigators have concluded that the 2017 Thomas Fire, one of the largest in the state’s history, was sparked by Southern California Edison Company power lines that touched the area during high winds. The fire killed two people and burned more than 440 square miles (1,140 square kilometers).
Southern California Edison on Friday filed a report with the California Public Utilities Commission related to the Eaton fire in the hills near Pasadena, the area served by the company.
Edison said it had not received any hints that its equipment was involved in the fire, but submitted the report to state utility regulators “out of caution” after receiving preservation notices from insurance company lawyers.
“The preliminary analysis by the electric company of the electrical circuit information of active transmission lines passing through the area for 12 hours before the reported fire start time showed no outages, electrical or operational anomalies until more than an hour after the reported fire start time has passed,” the company said.
While lightning, arson and utility lines are the most common causes, burning debris and fireworks are also common causes.
But fires flare up as a result of countless sources, including accidents.
In 2021, an exciting offer by a couple to reveal the sex of a child caused a major fire that raged on almost 36 square miles (about 90 square kilometers) of land, destroyed five houses and 15 other buildings and claimed the life of a firefighter, Charlie Morton.
The Eaton and Palisades fires remained burning on Friday with little containment. The winds had subsided, but there was no rain in the forecast as the flames moved across miles of dry land.
“It will turn off when the fuel runs out, or when the weather stops, and they will turn off this thing only when it is ready to launch, ”Lentini said.
