LA wildfires: Is the NYE fire at Skull Rock connected to deadly blazes

Two photos of LA’s Skull Rock taken days apart could highlight the origin of the deadly wildfires, as officials continue to investigate the source. Here’s what we know so far.

The Los Angeles wildfires have killed at least 24 people, destroyed thousands of structures and triggered a political blame game over what went wrong.

The wildfires are expected to the most expensive in American history, ranging from $USD50 to $150 billion.

According to the LA County Sheriff’s Department, at least 153,000 people have been forced to evacuate and another 166,000 people were under evacuation warnings over the past weekend.

As firefighters battle to contain multiple fires, authorities are investigating the failings that allowed the wildfires to spread.

Embattled Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has committed to a full investigation into the disaster.

Now, a new theory has emerged.

Hikers and outdoor enthusiasts have long been drawn to the ominously-named Skull Rock north of Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades, The LA Times reports.

A relatively short hike on the Temescal Ridge trail reveals the skeletal-shaped Skull Rock and affords hikers dramatic Pacific Ocean views.

The general area was the site of a small fire on New Year’s Eve that burned for a few hours before fire officials said they put it out with help from a water-bombing helicopter.

Sources say investigators are now probing the scenic site and leftover embers as the cause of the Palisades fire, due to the rock’s general proximity to the Palisades fire.

Since that trail is frequented by the public, sources believe it’s possible a new fire was sparked there just days later.

Here’s what else we know:

DID NEW YEAR’S EVE FIREWORKS CAUSE THE FIRE?

The Palisades Fire — the largest fire burning — could have been caused by fireworks set off on New Year’s Eve, according to The Washington Post.

The publication did an analysis of satellite images and videos, finding that the Palisades Fire “began in the same area where firefighters had put out the previous fire”.

It is believed the fire was reignited by scorch marks from the fire started that was possibly started by fireworks.

Residents noted that firefighters were “slower to respond to the second fire” than the initial NYE fire.

A resident said the NYE fire was “started by idiots” who lit fireworks late that evening and that he heard fireworks and saw the fire shortly after midnight.

DID HIKERS START THE FIRE?

The area near Skull Rock was closed off with yellow tape on Monday (Tuesday AEDT).

Units from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is investigating the cause of the fire, and the LA Police were in a cul-de-sac near the Skull Rock trailhead in Palisades.

Law enforcement officials investigate a potential ignition point of the Palisades Fire near the Skull Rock trailhead. Picture: Getty Images via AFP)

“We’re looking at every possibility, going down every rabbit hole, and examining video footage from residents in the area,” said Ginger Colbrun, spokeswoman for Bureau in Los Angeles.

Ms Colbrun said the investigation would include looking at possible connections between the Palisades fire and the one on New Year’s Day, reports The Australian.

The investigative team includes special agents, chemists, engineers and investigative research specialists, the agency said.

The same view of Skull Rock, Pacific Palisades, almost a week apart. Picture: Supplied

OR WAS IT DOWNED POWERLINES?

Questions have been raised about whether downed powerlines sparked the Eaton fire in Pasadena, California.

Surveillance video of the area where the fire started shows powerlines blowing in high winds on Tuesday, just after 6pm local time, according to ABC News in the US.

The video shows a fire sparking from the powerlines.

Eyewitnesses also confirmed the accounts in the video.

The company which manages the powerlines, Southern California Edison, stated: “To date, no fire agency has suggested that SCE’s electric facilities were involved in the ignition or requested the removal and retention of any SCE equipment.”

A helicopter passes as the Palisades Fire grows near Encino Hills, California. Picture: David Swanson / AFP

DID THE SANTA ANA WINDS MAKE IT WORSE?

The Santa Ana winds, sometimes called the ‘devil winds’, are strong winds swept in from the desert and across Southern California.

These winds are typically very dry, and while the state of California has had wildfires in the past, nothing has been as bad as it currently is.

Very little rainfall has also exacerbated the wildfires.

WAS BRUSH CLEARANCE PART OF THE PROBLEM?

Residents impacted by the severity of the fires cite a lack of clearing hillside brush.

“We knew the winds were coming. We knew that there was brush that needed to be cleared 20 years ago,” Rick Caruso, the developer and former Los Angeles mayoral candidate, told The LA Times. “This fire could have been mitigated — maybe not prevented.”

Elon Musk posted on X that the “biggest factor, in my opinion, is that crazy environmental regulations prevent building firebreaks and clearing brush near houses.”

Actress-producer Sara Foster chimed agreed, posting on X “our vegetation was overgrown, brush not cleared.”

But not everyone agrees.

“All of the brush clearance, fuel breaks — they’re very effective on what we would consider a normal day,” said Chief Brian Fennessy of the Orange County Fire Authority. “But what you’re talking about here is probably less than 1 per cent of all the fires that we respond to in Southern California.”

Local officials said strong winds prevented the deployment of waterbombing aircrafts on drought impacted neighbourhoods.

This prevented firefighters from containing the wildfires early on and, coupled with the unseasonably dry conditions, meant the blaze quickly spread throughout the geographic region.

WHEN WILL THE FIRES END?

The catastrophic fires burning around LA are expected to burn for weeks, authorities have warned.

The Palisades and Eaton fires – which have burnt almost 40,000 acres and destroyed at least 12,000 structures, placing them both among the worst in California’s history – could still take weeks to fully extinguish.

The Palisades blaze was 17 per cent contained and the Eaton fire was 35 per cent contained, a combined area bigger than the size of Paris.

“It’s going to be a slow, arduous process,” Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Erik Scott said of the ongoing firefight, as 90,000 people remained under evacuation orders.

WHAT IS THE WIND FORECAST?

According to US National Weather Service (NWS), these strong winds are forecast to continue through to Tuesday and likely Wednesday across LA, with “low humidity creating critical fire conditions” and “strong enough to potentially cause explosive fire growth.”

The NWS advised that gusts of 30 to 50 mph were expected with 50 to 75 mph wind gusts (80-112 km/hr) in wind-prone mountains and foothills through at least Tuesday.

“The winds are potentially getting dangerous and strong again,” Deanne Criswell, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), told CNN.

“The biggest thing that people need to know is that this is still dangerous.”

Retardant is dropped as the Palisades Fire grows. Picture: David Swanson / AFP

WHAT ABOUT THE RESERVOIRS?

The nearby Santa Ynez Reservoir, which usually can hold more than 440 million litres of water, has been closed since February last year for repairs.

The reservoir forms part of the water supply to Los Angeles and the fact that it was empty could explain why firefighters ran out of water as they struggled to contain wildfires.

Marty Adams, a former general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said the reservoir was “unlikely to have made a significant difference” in the Palisades Fire, had it been in commission.

WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE FIRE HYDRANTS?

At least one out of five fire hydrants lost pressure in the Pacific Palisades area, according to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Fully functioning fire hydrants would have unlikely made a huge difference against such ferocious wildfires but they would have minimised the damage left by the out of control blaze.

A firefighting helicopter drops water on the Palisades Fire. Picture: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power chief executive office Janissa Quiñones said three storage tanks containing around 3.8 million litres of water each supported the Palisades region.

But, she said, firefighters had quadrupled demand as they battled wildfires for 15 consecutive hours and the tanks sometimes run dry over Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, causing water pressure to drop.

California Governor Gavin Newsom publicly called for an investigation into why the nearby reservoir was closed and the lack of water in the fire hydrants.

“The ongoing reports of the loss of water pressure to some local fire hydrants during the fires and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir are deeply troubling to me and to the community,” Newsom wrote. “We need answer to how that happened.”

NEW: I am calling for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir.

We need answers to ensure this does not happen again and we have every resource available to… pic.twitter.com/R0vq0wwZph

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) January 10, 2025

WHAT ABOUT THE IMPACT OF BUDGET CUTS?

Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said budget cuts have reduced the fire agency’s ability to train firefighters and prepare land for the season, including risk mitigation.

Ms Crowley had sought additional funding due to the increasing risk, duration and severity of the bushfires from the county last year.

Another issue raised by Ms Crowley was that the number of inmates enlisted as firefighters had been cut by prison reforms, reducing the number of boots on the ground.

WHY DID EMERGENCY NOTIFICATIONS FAIL?

A software malfunction sent out faulty evacuation notices to more than a million residents on Thursday and Friday night, local time.

The messages created chaos and confusion among Los Angeles residents already on edge to the bushfires.

L.A. County’s Office of Emergency Management director Kevin McGowan said on Saturday, local time, that an overhaul of the notification system was almost complete.

“We believe this process is largely complete and we are working with federal partners and providers to ensure there is not a recurrence of the alerts going out in error,” he told the LA Times.

Originally published as LA wildfires: Is the NYE fire at Skull Rock connected to deadly blazes