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The hiking trail through Temescal Canyon in west Los Angeles is a favorite of the locals.
Towering over the winding streets and manicured houses that make up the Pacific Palisades, city-goers looking to escape America’s most famous cities have clear views of the pristine waters of the Pacific.
Now the path is green, brush-lined in the gray canyons and burned as far as the eye can see.
Yellow police tape surrounds the road leading up to the footpath. The police guarding the area called it a “crime” and prevented BBC journalists, including me, from approaching.
That’s where investigators believe the deadly fire that destroyed many homes in the area started.
A similar scene was played out across the city in the north of the city. There, the community of Altadena was leveled by a different fire burning in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Investigators in both locations are scouring canyons and trails, and examining rocks, bottles, cans – all debris left behind that could hold clues to the origin of these blazes, which are still unknown.
Here’s the one thing that die-hard Angelenos want to know: how did these fires start?
Without answers, some in fire-prone California are filling their own gaps. Fingers have been pointed to arsonists, utilities, electric companies or even the day before the fire in the Pacific Palisades that was snuffed out but may have ignited again in the face of Santa Ana winds blowing at 80-100mph (128-160 kmph) last week. .
Investigators are investigating all those theories and more. They are following dozens of leads in the hope that clues in the burn pattern, surveillance footage and testimony from first responders and witnesses can explain why Los Angeles saw two of the deadliest wildfires in US history ignite on January 7, killing 27 people and destroying more than 12,000 homes and businesses.
But this tragic mystery will take time to solve – possibly as long as a year.
“It’s too early,” Ginger Colbrun, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) told the BBC.
“Everyone wants answers, we want answers, the community wants answers. They deserve an explanation.
