Sat Feb 01 02:40:00 UTC 2025: ## Palisades Fire Investigation Focuses on Earlier Blaze’s Hotspot
**Los Angeles, CA — January 20, 2025** — Investigators probing the devastating Palisades Fire, which scorched over 23,000 acres and claimed at least eight lives in Southern California, are focusing their attention on a possible connection to a smaller fire that occurred six days earlier.
The Lachman Fire, contained to eight acres on January 1st, burned near the popular Temescal Ridge Trail in Topanga State Park. A CBS News analysis of satellite imagery and eyewitness accounts suggests the Palisades Fire, which erupted on January 7th, originated near the same location. Satellite images show traces of burning from the Lachman Fire on January 5th, and new smoke emerging from the same area on January 7th, the day the Palisades Fire began.
Pacific Palisades residents reported seeing the Palisades Fire ignite near the Skull Rock Trailhead along the Temescal Ridge Trail. David Hansen, who evacuated his mother from their home near the fire, stated that neighbors confirmed the fire started near the Lachman Fire’s previous burn area. His photos taken on January 7th corroborate this claim. Another hiker, Zane Mitchell, reported seeing lingering hotspots and smoke still rising from the Lachman Fire’s burn scar hours after it was officially declared contained.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has deployed 15 investigators to assist in determining the cause. While the official cause remains undetermined, the proximity of the two fires and reports of lingering hotspots raise the possibility of reignition, a phenomenon with historical precedent in Southern California, as seen in the 1991 Oakland Hills fire. Similar scenarios have also occurred in recent wildfires in Maui and Boulder County. The Palisades Fire, which remains only 17% contained a week after its start, is fueling concerns about the potential for uncontrolled spread due to lingering hotspots.
First Piper 