How Could This Happen? Answering Frequently Asked Questions About the L.A. Wildfire Disaster

Mar. 15, 2025

Firefighters work to extinguish flames engulfing a home as a brush fire rages in Pacific Palisades.Photo:DAVID SWANSON/AFP via Getty

DAVID SWANSON/AFP via Getty

Aswildfires continue to burnin the Los Angeles area, many still have unanswered questions about how the deadly blazes broke out around the city.

And with so many theories and incomplete information spreading — or, in some cases,outright false information— answers can be difficult to find.

Let’s fact-check some of the biggest questions, highlighting what is known and not known in the disaster.

How did the fires start?

“It was coming right at us,” Nic Libonati, the man who called it in, told the paper.

State officials say the Palisades fire began on 10:30 a.m. local time on Jan. 7. The second major fire, the Eaton fire, began across the city near Pasadena, Calif., about eight hours later, at 6:18 p.m. local time.

“As soon as we have information, we will share that with all of you. I know there’s obviously, for the right reason, a lot of interest in that,” L.A. Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley previously told reporters.

People watch as others drive out of harm’s way as the Palisades Fire burns.Mario Tama/Getty

Mario Tama/Getty

Has anyone been arrested for arson during the fires?

Yes, but no one is currently accused of starting any of the major fires.

Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva, a 33-year-old Mexican national, was arrested “on a felony probation violation” on Friday, Jan. 10, theU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE) said in a news release.

The man was apprehended after a call came in at 4:32 p.m. for a"possible arson suspect" on the 21700 block of Ybarra Road, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a previous statement.

According to police, “A male was heard stating a suspect was ‘attempting to light a fire.’ "

However, at a news conference on Friday, Jan. 10, Dominic Choi, the police department’s assistant chief, said there was “not enough probable cause to arrest [the suspect] on arson or suspicion of arson.”

The L.A. District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment and it was unclear if Sierra-Leyva has an attorney who can comment on his behalf.

A second person, 60-year-old Gloria Lynn Mandich, wastaken into custodyand charged with felony arson related to a Jan. 8 brush fire in Los Angeles County, according to a previousstatementfrom California State Parks.

More broadly, there have been dozens of arrests for various crimes since the fires began on Jan. 7.

L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a news conference on Wednesday, Jan. 15, that 44 arrests have been made — 36 people in the Eaton fire area and eight in the Palisades fire area — according toABC’s KABC station.

Fourteen of the arrests were made for suspectedburglary, Luna said.

“Everything else is either curfew, trespassing, individuals that are possessing narcotics and or guns,” he added.

Firefighters battle flames during the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, US, on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025.Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty

Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty

Was the fire department’s budget cut?

The answer here is a bit complicated.

Additional money was then allocated to the department later last year,Politiconoted.

The budget cuts largely affected overtime pay, according toNBC’s KNBC.

In December, Chief Kristin Crowley warned of what that might mean during “large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.”

More recently, amid the fires,a CNN analysis found that"the most recent data available from the 10 largest US cities and other comparable departments shows the Los Angeles Fire Department is less staffed than almost any other major city.”

Bass, when asked to comment this week, reportedly said she was “confident” the budget changes had no effect on the response.

Experts told PEOPLE that one of the key issues in struggling to deal with the fires was the severe wind — a factor that goes beyond budgeting or staffing.

For example, the gusts prevented some aerial support until they died down.

“That was out of our control. That’s just Mother Nature,” said Carlos Herrera, a spokesman for the L.A. County Fire Department.

Firefighters fight the flames from the Palisades Fire burning the Theatre Palisades during a powerful windstorm on January 8, 2025.Apu Gomes/Getty

Apu Gomes/Getty

Was lack of water an issue?

The answer to this question is also a bit nuanced.

While Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered a probe of the reports of problems with water supply, local officials blamed “tremendous demand” on the system in the Pacific Palisades, where the wildfires first broke out, for hydrants running temporarily low on pressure at critical points during the fire fight, PEOPLEpreviously reported.

Janisse Quiñones, chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, has told reporters that the system experienced “four times the normal demand” for 15 straight hours at one early point in the disaster.

Three water tanks went dry, and there were problems maintaining water pressure in the supply lines, he added.

Palisades Village mall owner Rick Caruso — a former mayoral candidate who ran against Democratic incumbent Karen Bass and former commissioner for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power — has slammed the issue: “It should never happen.”

Greg Pierce, who teaches environmental policy at UCLA, told PEOPLE that without considering sweeping infrastructure changes, urban water systems are currently “not well-equipped” against wildfires.

Pierce noted that a local reservoir, the Santa Ynez, was down for maintenance in the Palisades but even with that water, it was unlikely to be decisive in dealing with such a sweeping fire.

“Harsh questions have to be brought up about whether we can protect people in areas like this into the future,” he said.

Firefighters work to extinguish flames engulfing a home as a brush fire rages in Pacific Palisades, California, on January 7, 2025.DAVID SWANSON/AFP via Getty

Are drones causing problems?

Yes, and the FBIis looking for the drone operatorthat damaged an aircraft fighting the Palisades fire.

The aircraft, known as a “Super Scooper,” was grounded after colliding with the drone while “conducting fire suppression operations” near Malibu on the morning of Thursday, Jan. 9, according to theFBI.

The drone was heavily damaged in the crash and “left a 3 x 6 inch hole in the left wing” of the plane.

Separately, local authoritiesreportedly said three people have been arrestedin connection with drones.

A helicopter flies over one of the fires burning in the Los Angeles area in January 2025.Nick Ut/Getty

Did Oregon firefighters have to stop to be inspected to come into California?

Not exactly, according to theOregon State Fire Marshal, which has called out the “misinformation” spreading online about the subject.

Strike teams did undergo “a routine safety check” with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection on Thursday after staying the night in Sacramento “to make sure the engines were mechanically sound,” according to a news release from the Oregon fire marshal.

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The teams arrived in Southern California as scheduled that same day, the fire marshal said. “There was no delay” in the travel process.

“No engines were turned away. They all completed the safety check,” the OSFM said.

Click hereto learn more about how to help the victims of the L.A. fires.

Susan Young

source: people.com