The hiking trails through Temescal Canyon west of Los Angeles are a local favorite.

Towering above the winding roads and manicured houses that make up the Pacific Palisades, urban hikers seeking an escape from America’s famously traffic-choked cities have a clear view of the Pacific’s pristine waters.

The green, scrubby paths in the canyon were now gray and scorched as far as the eye could see.

Yellow police tape surrounded the road leading to the trail. Police guarding the area described it as a “crime scene” and prevented BBC reporters, including me, from approaching.

Investigators believe the deadly fire that destroyed numerous homes in the area may have started here.

Similar scenes unfolded in towns to the north of the city. There, the community of Altadena was leveled by another fire ignited in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Investigators at both sites are scouring canyons and trails and examining rocks, bottles, cans — any debris left behind that could provide clues to the origins of these fires, but it’s not yet clear.

That’s one thing nervous and grieving Angelenos desperately want to know: How did these fires start?

In the absence of answers, some in fire-prone California are taking it upon themselves to fill in the gaps. People are pointing the finger at arsonists, power companies, utilities, and even a fire in Pacific Palisades that was extinguished a few days ago, but last week Santa Ana winds of 80-100 mph (128-160 km/h), Might have reignited. .

Researchers are studying all of these theories and more. They are following dozens of clues in the hope that clues in burn patterns, surveillance footage and testimonies from first responders and witnesses will explain why Los Angeles on Jan. 7 was rocked by two of the most destructive fires in U.S. history to date. It killed 27 people and destroyed more than 10,000 homes and businesses.

But this tragic mystery will take time to unravel — possibly as long as a year.

“It’s still early days,” Ginger Colbrun, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles branch of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), told the BBC.

“Everybody wants answers, we want answers, the community wants answers. They deserve an explanation. It just takes time.”

Kay Cranmore and his friends may have spotted the first trace of the Palisades Fire while hiking in Temescal Canyon, a trail frequented by nature lovers and California stoners trails.

It’s not uncommon for tourists to bring wine and music and relax in nature next to Skull Rock, an iconic rock formation along the route.

In a series of videos posted online, Mr Cranmore and his friends can be seen running along the gorge on the morning of January 7. His first videos showed a small plume of smoke billowing from the mountain as they made their way through brush and rock formations in a desperate attempt to escape. They gasped and said they smelled fire before seeing smoke rising.

In a further cut, the small cloud becomes darker, and then flames can be seen spreading over the top of the mountain.

“Man, this is where we’re standing,” one person shouts in the video, as flames flicker in the distance. “We’re literally right there,” another person chimed in.

The ATF’s Ms. Colebron confirmed that the hikers’ video is being reviewed as part of the official investigation into the origins of the Palisades Fire and said their experience is just one of many tips and potential leads that have been reported to authorities. one.

“Investigators are talking to everyone,” she said.

Some on the internet were quick to blame the group for the fire, noting how close they were to the fire when it broke out. Even actor Rob Schneider posted about the hikers, asking his followers to help identify them.

In interviews with US media, members of the hiking group noted how scared they became when people started attacking online. One of the men said he deleted his social media accounts.

“It’s scary,” one of the members told the Los Angeles Times. “In fact, from our experience, we know we don’t do that, but then seeing the large number of people with different theories is overwhelming.”

Ms. Kolbrun said investigators also spoke with firefighters who started a fire near the same ravine days earlier. One persistent theory is that the small fire that started on January 1 was never completely extinguished and reignited six days later as winds picked up.

The Palisades Fire is believed to have broken out around 10:30 local time on January 7, but several hikers told US media they smelled smoke while walking the trail earlier that morning.

A security guard working near the trail told the BBC he had seen smoke or dust in the area for several days. He was patrolling near the canyon boundary the morning of the fire and called firefighters when smoke billowed out.

But Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone dismissed speculation that the two Palisade fires, nearly a week apart, might be related.

“I don’t buy it. Personally, I don’t buy it,” he told the BBC. “I think a week is too long for a fire to reignite without being fully controlled.” He acknowledged that such incidents did happen but were rare..

While Chief Malone’s agency is not leading the investigation into the Palisades fire, he said investigators are also looking into the possibility of arson.

“The near-simultaneous occurrence of multiple fires in the Los Angeles County area leads us to believe that these fires were intentionally set,” Chief Marone said.

He added that about half of the brush fires the agency typically responds to are intentionally set.

Chief Maroun’s main focus was on the other side of town, fighting the Eaton Fire that swept through much of Altadena. It flattened entire neighborhoods, destroyed commercial blocks and killed at least 17 people.

The agency is working with Cal Fire, California’s statewide fire protection agency, to investigate the cause and location of the fire.

The Eaton Fire broke out shortly after sunset on Jan. 7, leaving Palisades firefighters overwhelmed for hours.

Jeffrey Ku captured what may be some of the earliest footage of the fire.

His doorbell camera captured the moment his wife pulled him outside. “Hey baby, I need you to come here right now,” she told him, her hair flying in the strong wind. “We have a very big problem.”

“Oh no!” Mr Ku can be heard saying as bright orange flames lit up the sky.

At that time, the fire was still very small. A fire was burning beneath a large metal utility tower on the mountainside.

In a series of videos, Mr Ku chronicled the speed of the virus’ spread – with each update, his voice carrying more concern as he and his wife packed up what they could leave behind.

“Please God, please God save us, save our house. Please God, please,” he said in it, as the entire sky now glowed with a yellow-orange light. Sirens echoed around him.

The large metal utility tower documented by Mr. Ku is now the focus of fire investigators.

Some of California’s worst fires have been blamed on utility providers, including the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise. In 2019, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) reached a $13.5bn (£10.2bn) settlement with victims of the Camp Fire and other wildfires in the state.

In the week since the Eaton fire, at least five lawsuits have been filed against Southern California Edison, the electricity supplier operating the tower featured in Mr. Ku’s video.

The company said it had not found any evidence that its equipment caused the fire and was reviewing the lawsuit.

The company said in a statement that a preliminary analysis of the entire Canyon transmission line showed “no disruptions or operational/power anomalies in the 12 hours before the reported fire and until more than an hour after the reported fire.” “”.

Additionally, the company said its distribution lines west of Eaton Canyon were deenergized “well before the reported start time of the fire” as part of a fire safety shutoff plan.

Chief Malone told the BBC that investigators were looking into all possibilities, including whether the tower could have been the site of a localized fire – meaning the initial blaze could have been started elsewhere but then spread to the tower through flying embers.

He explained that the tower where the fire broke out was different from those seen in nearby areas. This wasn’t a wooden pole with a small flammable transformer or thin wires, but a massive metal transmission tower with high-voltage wires as thick as a fist.

He said these types of wiring don’t usually cause fires because they are computerized and the system automatically shuts down the power if something goes wrong.

However, he noted that investigators are looking into whether Southern California Edison’s system was functioning properly that night and cut power.

Cal Fire warned against pointing fingers at anyone early in the investigation.

“We want to make sure we’re not pointing our fingers in any direction because we’ve seen what happens when someone is wrongly accused,” deputy director of operations Gerry Magaña told the BBC.

“It creates chaos.”

Additional reporting by Hannah Green and Emma Pengelly