Chilling footage of start of mega LA fire sparks wild theories
A clip of several young men fleeing from the apparent starting point of a mega blaze that’s devastated Los Angeles has gone viral. Watch the video.
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Vision of a group of young men fleeing from the apparent starting point of the mammoth Palisades fire that has devastated a vast chunk of Los Angeles has sparked a flood of wild conspiracy theories.
If you believe X, the hikers are either ruthless arsonists, covert CIA operatives conducting a false flag operation, hapless and negligent stoners, or climate change spruikers.
The clip, uploaded to social media shortly after the blaze broke out in Pacific Palisades on January 7, shows six friends in their early 20s near a popular scenic lookout in Temescal Canyon.
“My friends and I got ambushed by the Palisades fire soon after it started,” Beni Oren wrote alongside the vision. “We hiked up to Skull Rock and smelled smoke as we were hanging. We quickly had to run for our lives.”
Now, Mr Oren and some of his mates have had to flee again – from the internet. Since the video was posted, it has gone viral and sparked a torrent of abuse and accusations, some of them fairly unhinged.
Initially, Mr Oren replied to some of the countless comments on X, denying any of his group had lit the fire – intentionally or otherwise.
He wrote: “I can’t deny it definitely can easily be framed to look like we did … but by no means in hell does it undeniably prove anything. I with utmost certainty know we did not start it.”
When comedian and film star Rob Schneider posted the vision with a demand to “HELP IDENTIFY”, Mr Oren posted: “Interesting to see how apophenic humans are and how quick they jump to conclusions.”
He has since deleted his social media profiles.
‘I smell smoke’
Kai Cranmore, who actually shot the footage, said the group was part-way through the six-and-a-half kilometre hike when they stopped at a rigid outlook dubbed Skull Rock to meditate.
They sat cross-legged with their shoes off, listening to music from a portable speaker, occasionally pausing to share what they were feeling.
“We were expressing what we were feeling,” Mr Cranmore told Backpack magazine.
“I would say, ‘I feel the gravity pulling me towards the earth’ or ‘I feel my breath.’ And my buddy Mike was like, ‘I smell smoke.’”
They opened their eyes, looked around, and saw a plume of thick smoke about the hill behind them, about 45 metres away.
It appears what the men witnessed was the ignition of the destructive Palisades fire, which has scorched almost 24,000 acres of land, razed at least 12,250 structures, and killed eight people.
Despite around-the-clock efforts of thousands of firefights from Los Angeles, across the United States, and global allies, just 14 per cent of the enormous blaze has been contained.
A flood of theories
The emergence of the video sparked a digital firestorm.
Some suggested the men deliberately lit the fire in a bid to promote a climate change narrative, while one bizarrely claimed they were CIA covert operatives orchestrating a false flag attack.
A few accused them of arson in a specifically selected affluent area, in an attack on the ultra-wealthy inspired by alleged United Healthcare CEO assassin Ligui Mangione.
There was even an attempt by one conspiracy theorist to somehow link the video to Covid-19 vaccinations.
Other conclusions leapt to by viewers of the video were a little more grounded.
For example, a number of X users suggested some of the men might’ve been smoking, improperly disposing of a cigarette or marijuana joint and inadvertently sparking a fire.
The account @FrumTikTok posted a claim that Mr Cranmore had offered a comment saying: “Thanks for checking in – nobody was smoking on the trail as we are not smokers. We were doing a trail run that morning and intended on doing a meditation at the top before we turn to go back down.”
Some of the small number of people defending the men pointed out that someone guilty of arson would be unlikely to share footage of themselves committing the crime.
‘Why are they laughing?’
For a split second in the footage, two of the men in the group can be seen smirking as they run down the hill, with smoke billowing into the sky behind them.
That unexpected response to a seemingly dangerous situation was enough proof for many on social media that the men were guilty.
But the full vision indicates the duo aren’t laughing for a sinister reason, given they also exhibit signs of shock and panic.
“This is scary,” one of them exclaimed. “Let’s go – we’re in a fire,” another yelled.
In an explainer for the mental health organisation Headspace, journalist Crystal Ponti explained that laughter in a stressful scenario can be jarring to observers but is far from uncommon.
“Everyone has a story about someone laughing or giggling when it’s least appropriate, even rude, but most people have no control over it,” Ponti wrote.
Scientists believe there’s a good explanation for it, given laughter has the effect of discharging energy and helping us relax.
A study led by Margaret Clark, professor of psychology at Yale University, suggests that when we experience “extremely high or low emotions, such as deep sadness or escalating uneasiness, we can feel physiologically overwhelmed and have difficulty functioning”, Ponti noted.
“Emotional homeostasis, or emotional balance, allows us to better control our cognitive, social, and psychological functions. Laughter serves as one mechanism that can help regulate our emotional state.”
She also cited the research of Professor Robin Dunbar from Oxford University, an expert in evolutionary psychology, who has probed the effects of laughter on pain tolerance.
“According to Dunbar’s research, the endorphins released by laughter activate the same receptors as drugs like heroin, with painkilling and euphoria-producing effects.”
Confusion, alarm and curiosity
The full vision captures the reactions of the friends from shortly after they notice the billowing smoke to the point they seemingly realise how serious the situation is.
“I smell smoke,” one can be heard saying early on.
“I hear it,” another added, observing the crackling sound of the fire. “I’m scared.”
There are signs of confusion as the men try to figure out a safe path away from the blaze, with the vision showing them navigate rough terrain of overgrown brush and obstacles in the form of large rocks.
“Let’s go,” one shouted. “We’re in a fire.”
Another asked: “Where are we going? Left?”
The strong winds became a cause for concern as the men scrambled through the landscape, with one realising: “Oh my God, the wind’s blowing right towards us.”
As well as being concerned, some of the men are curious, wanting to pause to take in the scene to get a better understanding of what was happening.
“Should we go up and look?” one asked.
“Oh my God. I got it on video,” another said.
And one can be heard saying: “Holy s***. It’s literally right where we were. Oh my God, bro.”
They were far from the only people in the vicinity to consider getting a closer look, with local hiker Ron Giller telling The New York Times that he encountered other people on the trail that morning.
Mr Cranmore told Backpack they crossed paths with several other hikers and warned them about the fire, prompting some to turn back but others to push on to check out the source.
“I felt as if we did our due diligence to advise them to steer clear,” he said.
When they reached the hiking trail’s parking area, fire crews were beginning to arrive.
Media reports about radio transmissions from those first responders show no-one anticipated the significance of what was to come.
“In that moment, we didn’t really think about what a small fire could have grown into,” Mr Cranmore told Backpack.
“The only thought in my mind was to survive and get out of there. But my mind is just absolutely blown with how big it’s grown and how many lives it’s affected.”
Cause of blaze unclear
The focus of authorities remains on containing the enormous Palisades fire, as well as a second major blaze, the Eaton fire, which has razed 14,000 acres, destroyed 1900 structures, and killed 11.
The latter is still burning out of control, with containment currently standing at just 33 per cent.
But there have already been reassurances that thorough investigations into the cause of the horrific and unprecedented disaster will take place.
A range of theories have emerged but authorities say it is too early to place much weight on any of them.
One initial focus is on an earlier fire that broke out in the early hours of New Year’s Day, which authorities believe was caused by fireworks let off in the area.
Local resident Francine Sohn woke just after midnight when her neighbour called in a panic to alert her to a small fire on the hill.
Fire crews responded and extinguished the blaze, but there’s some speculation embers may have simmered for the next six days before reigniting.
“Some of the deadliest wildfires of the past century were blazes that firefighters believed they had extinguished, only to have the remnants flare up into an inferno,” The New York Times noted.
“They include the 1991 firestorm in Oakland that killed 25 people and the 2023 wildfire on the Hawaiian Island of Maui that killed 102 people.
“Researchers have found that fires can smoulder in plant roots or other organic material for days before conditions let them re-emerge.”
One firefighter radioed emergency dispatchers and noted that the new fire was “just below the old burn scar” from the New Year’s blaze.
And an eyewitness, hiker Darrin Hurwitz, told the Los Angeles Times he could smell smoke about an hour before the fire broke out.
He was at Skull Rock at the time, looking at the burn scar from the New Year’s Day fire, at the time.
“I noticed a bit of a smoky smell,” he told the newspaper. “I didn’t make much of it. I figured it was either coming from somewhere else or was the remnants of the fire itself.
“The timing of this was about an hour before the fire. Now, what that all means, I don’t know. Could it be possible that there were still some embers that weren’t out and the winds were kind of rustling them up?”
Another theory being probed is that downed power lines ignited dry grass – a cause of a number of historic wild fires in California.
A reporter for The New York Times who visited the Temescal Ridge hiking trial saw bits of debris from electricity transmission lines.
“But the nearest overhead power line was about a third of a mile to the north,” the newspaper noted.
“That line, which curves down from the trail and into the neighbourhood, was extensively damaged from fire, but witness photographs show it was still intact soon after the fire began.”
A police source speaking on the condition of anonymity told the Los Angeles Times that the Palisades fire appeared to have human origins.
“We are looking at every angle,” Dominic Choi, assistant police chief in Los Angeles, told reporters yesterday.
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Originally published as Chilling footage of start of mega LA fire sparks wild theories
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