Over the past few weeks, a group of intelligence investigators of American alcohol, tobacco, guns and ammunition have worked from a command post in the Highlands of the Pacific Policy.
It is here, near a popular hiking trial, officials believe that the policies fire started on January 7th at 10:30 am. Thousands of remains The burning houses went to the sea from the foothills of the mountain.
But the reason is a mystery that the team is trying to solve.
Investigators have scanned each part of the path and the mountain pass and broke it in one stage. They have examined 250 tracks, with a 90 -hour related video and conducted 50 interviews.
Officials said that fifteen ATF team members across the country were armed with various scientific backgrounds, high -tens and a small lab.
ATF officials have refused to provide information about policies fire on 23,400 acres and have balanced over 6,800 structures, including several houses.
But sources with knowledge of the investigation said there were two leading theories: Firefighters thought that firefighters had released the same area on January 1. Sources have suggested that flames seem to have human appearance.
Focus on previous fire
The Los Angeles Fire Department refused to answer specific questions about the Place, called Lachman Fire, called Lachman Fire, saying the files were “sealed” and that they are part of the policed fire.
“We will not let a fire with any hot spots. But with that, the investigation, now we can determine whether it is really or not,” Los Angeles Fire Leader Christine Groolie told residents during a social forum this month. ” Looking at you in the eye, I can tell you the full expression, and if they find it, we will tell you it. ”
Lachman Fire was announced by a resident at 12:17 am on New Year's Day at the foothills above the Pacific Policy, its house has two blocks from the popular Skull Rock path. Intelligence sources about the unauthorized investigation of publicly to speak to Times seem to have been triggered by Lachman fire by fireworks.
The agency states that water-free helicopters were initially unable to fly due to air, but at 1:40 am, they began to launch an air strike to support the group on the ground. News scenes captured the allegation, and the walls of flames run on the backyards on homes and firefighters.
After 3:30 am, firefighters said they stopped the progress of the fire.
After one hour, LAFD Report The firefighters “have finished the pipeline around the perimeter of the fire, in which it is full.” However, some firefighters were in the spot and make sure the fire did not burn again.
Joe Everett, Assistant Chairman Joe Everett, who oversees the West Bureau of the LAFD, which includes Pacific Policy, has taken a cool backward operation on the spot, in which the crew feels any prolonged heat on the edge of the fire, and the fire will be burned to ensure that no direct edges will be burned later.
They had patrols on the site for more than 36 hours, and Everet told residents at a social meeting this month.
“I can tell you that the people in the fire stadium are the most worthy and well -relied on the ground,” he said.
Everett suspected that the policies fire had been triggered by re -awakening the previous fire.
“The fire is dead. If that is the reason, it will be an event, ”he said.
LAFD officials refused to describe whether they were conducting the heat images of the area. During large wildfire agencies often use thermal images, to find hot places in times where they are not visible, or in conditions with heavy smoke or fog.
Another fire in the same area
The U.C. San Diego cameras captured the January 1 Place. In the next six days, the Times reviewed the available scenes, and the new smoke is unknown. But at around 10:30 am on January 7, there is a new smoke in the same area.
In the middle, firefighters returned on the same policyy mountain pass, the hurricane-force would become the biggest hell in the midst of the breeze: the policies fire.
Tarin Harvitz, a policy resident, told Times that he was going to walk in the area this month-the five-mile cycle took him to the top of the Skull Rock and gave him a view of the burning scar from the New Year's Day. 7. It was a busy path, but the open space was quiet that day.
“At the same time, I noticed a smoke smell. I didn't do it much. I saw it was from somewhere else or the remains of the fire,” he said.
Others also smoked in the area that morning, but the flames were not found until 10:15 am
The Los Angeles firefighter was the first of a scene and they admitted to the radio that they were “going back to the place of Lachman Fire.”
How the investigation reveals
The ATF is trying to release a report on the cause of the fire in about 60 days. It would be substantially faster than that Fire on Hawaii Island Ma Au, It took a year. But it depends on whether sophisticated tests are needed again at the Bureau's Maryland Fire Laboratory.
A reason for a reason is that it takes several months to come to an end immediately. In general, investigators begin to find the area of the ignition, which often determine by burning forms. Experts say that the process can only take more than a week, such as a large hell like the policy fire.
After finding the location of the fire beginning, investigators will search for any evidence that can point out any witness reports or videos to help you connect to how the fire started together.
LABT officials have kept public and media from skull rock trailhead in an area where the Polystes fire is a potential starting point in the Pacific Polystes on January 13, 2025.
(Brian Van der Prak/Los Angeles Times)
Gianni Mushto, Leader of the California Forestry and Fire Security Department, said the products found in a fire should be checked, and the results may take weeks or months.
“This big fire will take time,” Musheteo said. “Sometimes it takes time to do it, based on evidence that needs to be evaluated.”
The first images of the policies fire, as it was welded in a track above the Pacific Polystestes, is like the captured as the fire shifted the night sky when the New Year started.
Firefighters say that in some cases a flames can be renewed in some cases after the initial fire is expected to be extinguished.
In 1991 that destroyed 2,500 structures, the massive Oakland Hills fire broke out after firefighters believed that fire broke out 6 acres. Firefighters left the equipment at the scene, but did not monitor it. The air was taken, and the conflict consumed the houses.
For more than a century, the worst AU fire killed at least 101 people, and the previous brush was caught from the fire that was hoping that firefighters believed they were lurking.
The days or weeks that have been discharged of the wildfire are not an event that renews it again. It is very common to wake up again while firefighters are still in the scene, allowing it to be quickly controlled, said Musito.
“You are trying to get rid of all those hot places, but there is always enough exposure to keep that heat and blow something across the line or burn through the roots.
Former Los Angeles County Sheriff, who noticed 2,500 fire, said Ed Nordskock, an artist, said that in the wildlife environments, especially in the wildlife environments, the embarraries could bury themselves in wooden roots and cover it with heavy ashes. They can be buried until an air event is released.
US Forest Service uses infrared technology, sometimes track of fire underclassmen. Nordskock said heat imaging was a safe way to prevent such a problem.
But it is not even the right solution.
“A super small smoking fire should not be postponed enough heat signature to take those images,” Musheteo said. “That is why the group on the ground, especially when they roam the edge of the fire, they are actually looking for anything that smokes.
