Law enforcement sources said authorities will announce the arrest of persons linked to the devastating fire in Palitz and are expected to announce the cause of the fire.
Alcohol, tobacco, guns and explosives bureau officials will make the announcement after nine months of investigation.
The main theory holds that the fire was the rekindling of a fire that broke out at the same site on January 1. Experts speculate that on January 7, a strong wind triggered a fire again, burning thousands of houses and killing more than a dozen people.
The first fire, known as the Rahman Fire, was reported by a resident about 12:17 noon on New Year's Day and occurred on a hillside above Palisades in the Pacific, with the resident's home about two blocks from the popular Skull Rock Trail. Sources who understand the investigation but are not authorized to speak publicly told the Times that the Rahman fire appeared to be triggered by fireworks.
According to the agency, drip helicopters were initially unable to fly due to strong winds, but around 1:40 a.m., they began launching air strikes with the help of ground support personnel. News footage captured the attack, with firewalls towering above the house and firefighters thrust the hose into the backyard.
Shortly after 3:30 a.m., Los Angeles Fire Department officials reported that they had stopped the fire from spreading further.
More than an hour later, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported that firefighters had “completed the hoses around the fire and the fire was fully under control.” However, some firefighters remained on site for cleaning to ensure that the fire did not spread anymore.
Los Angeles Fire Department officials declined to disclose details on whether the area was subject to thermal imaging afterwards. During large wildfires, institutions often use thermal imaging to find hot spots in the absence of visible light or severe smoke or mist.
Some experts believe that the January fire was rekindled because the second fire broke out in the same area.
UC San Diego's cameras monitoring mountains and hills, including the Pacific Palisades, captured the January 1 fire. The New York Times looked at the available footage for the next six days and saw no new smoke. But at around 10:30 am on January 7, new smoke appeared in the same area.
At about ten a.m., firefighters returned to the Palised hillside in the hurricane-strength storm to fight a larger Hellfire: the Palised Fire.
One of the first Los Angeles firefighters to arrive at the scene admitted via the radio that they would “return to where the Rahman fire occurred.”
Some other destructive fires are also reopenings of old fires.
A 1991 fire in Auckland Hills destroyed 2,500 buildings and firefighters believed the previous day had already controlled the six acres of fire that had occurred earlier, followed by an explosion. Firefighters left the equipment on site, but there was no continuous monitoring. The wind blew and the fire destroyed the house.
The Maui fire was the worst in the United States in more than a century, killing at least 101 people, after a previous bush fire caused by collapse of wires that firefighters believe have been put out.