A lawsuit filed by over 3,000 Pacific Palisades residents has alleged the state of California failed to properly monitor the embers from a smoldering fire set by an arsonist roughly six days before it grew into the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history.
Documents obtained by NewsNation showed that the fire began in the early morning of January 1, 2025, and the state failed to monitor the embers over the next six days.
According to documents obtained exclusively by NewsNation, it began in the early morning hours of Jan. 1 when an alleged arsonist started the Lachman Fire.
Six days later, underground embers reignited, starting a second and more devastating fire, the Palisades Fire.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office denied responsibility in a statement to NewsNation.
“The state didn’t start this fire (that was an arsonist), and the state wasn’t responsible for responding to or monitoring the fire,” his office said.
California also claimed in court filings that fire victims cannot claim that the state failed to monitor the original Lachman Fire because the state never had notice of it. However, state records appear to show that the Los Angeles Fire Department contacted state officials in the early morning of January 1 and parks representative arrived at the scene by 4 a.m.
“Areas of a park unit which have burned will remain closed until appropriate department staff have inspected the area and rectified any public safety, property or resource protection issues,” say the guidelines from the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
Behle noted that for six days, people were hiking and biking through areas were smoldering embers were active.
“People were able to hike up through there while the embers in the hillside remained active,” Behle said. “We have reports of a state park representative coming up to the area of the Lachman burn scar with a map and directing firefighters [on] what they could touch and not touch. [Where] they could bulldoze, not bulldoze. We know that occurred on Jan. 2.”
“People that were present at the Lachman burn scar on the second of January saw a state park rep, with a map, up in the area telling firefighters what they could do and not do in that area,” he added.
Even 911 call logs indicated that at least one resident called on January 3 to report of seeing puffs of smoke in the hills nearby.
“People say, hey, look, we’re still seeing smoke up there and yet nothing was done and it should have been done by the state,” Behle said. “The state should have been up there until they were certain that there was no risk of a rekindling.”
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