What we know about the start of the Palisades Fire

As officials probe the cause of the Palisades Fire in Southern California, investigators have focused their attention on a popular Los Angeles-area hiking trail where another fire had burned six days earlier. 

A CBS News analysis of satellite imagery and photos shared by local residents indicates the Palisades Fire likely started close to where that other blaze, the Lachman Fire, broke out on Jan. 1. 

While the Lachman Fire was limited to eight acres and did not destroy structures, the Palisades Fire, which broke out on the morning of Jan. 7, exploded as Santa Ana winds picked up, burning more than 23,000 acres and killing at least eight people, according to Cal Fire. One week in, the fire was still only 17% contained. 

Officials have not determined a cause for the Palisades Fire. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Monday that it has deployed 15 investigators to work with local, state and federal agencies to determine the cause and origin point.

Planet Labs satellite imagery from Jan. 5 shows the first traces of charred land likely from the Lachman Fire.

Additional Sentinel-2 satellite imagery captured on Jan. 7 shows smoke again drifting from the same area around the Temescal Ridge Trail.

Pacific Palisades residents told CBS News they saw the fire break out the morning of Jan. 7 close to the Skull Rock Trailhead along the Temescal Ridge Trail in Topanga State Park. Jerry Del Colliano, whose home was three blocks from where the Palisades Fire likely started, captured a photo of the flames rising from the trail. 

Jerry Del Colliano

David Hansen evacuated his elderly mother from her home by the Santa Ynez Reservoir in Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7. Hansen said his mother’s neighbors told him the Palisades Fire sparked near where the Lachman Fire had been contained. At about 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 7, he snapped photos from the 1200 block of Piedra Morada Drive of the Palisades Fire. Piedra Morada Drive is located roughly seven blocks from where the Lachman Fire broke out. 

“A thousand percent, it was the same spot,” Hansen said. 

David Hansen

David Hansen

Zane Mitchell, who hiked the Temescal Ridge Trail the morning of Jan. 1, told CBS News that parts of the ground by the Lachman Fire’s burn scar were “still smoldering” and a team of firefighters “were still trying to put out hotspots and clean up.” 

Mitchell shared photos with CBS News he took on his hike showing smoke still rising from the ground, hours after the L.A. Fire Department reported the fire contained by 4:46 a.m.

Zane Mitchell

Zane Mitchell

The Los Angeles Times reported Southern California has a historical precedent for fires reigniting, including the Oakland Hills fire of 1991, which destroyed more than 2,500 structures. 

Other recent fires, including the August 2023 fires on the Hawaiian island of Maui, and a December 2021 fire in Boulder County, Colorado, also reignited from lingering hotspots. 

Describing the flames overtaking his community as he evacuated with elderly residents in his car, Del Colliano said: “It was like a scene from ‘The Terminator.'”

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Erielle Delzer is a verification producer for CBS News Confirmed. She covers misinformation, AI and social media. Contact Erielle at erielle.delzer@cbsnews.com.

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