section_path: Investigation/Relationship to the Lachman Fire
section_name: Relationship to the Lachman Fire
paragraph_text: Relationship to the Lachman Fire
  
  At 12:17 a.m. on January 1, 2025, it was reported that a small brush fire had started on the ridgeline along the popular Skull Rock trail. Known as the Lachman Fire, it reached 8 acres before forward progress was stopped shortly after 3:30 a.m., with mop-up and patrol operations continuing for 36 hours after.
  
  Multiple residents in the area reported that fireworks had allegedly caused the ignition of the Lachman Fire on January 1. Sources with knowledge of the investigation into the Lachman Fire also believe it was sparked by fireworks. The San Francisco Chronicle interviewed multiple residents who described the Skull Rock trail as a popular hangout for youths, and that youths setting off fireworks was a persistent problem in the Palisades area. In the years prior, some residents sought to prosecute those behind the fireworks but were told that local police had limited resources. Residents also brought the issue to the Palisades Town Council.
  
  The link between the Lachman Fire and the Palisades Fire is reportedly under investigation, as the two fires started in the same location along the Temescal Ridge. Analyses of satellite imagery suggest that the Palisades Fire started close to the burn scar of the Lachman Fire, a claim corroborated by some residents. Assistant Chief Joe Everett of the LAFD expressed skepticism about the possibility of reignition after the cold-trailing operation and 36-hour patrol that followed the Lachman Fire. Ed Nordskog, a former arson investigator for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, noted that embers can stay buried until a wind event sets them free. Michael Gollner, a fire scientist and professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, stated that "It's certainly possible that something from that previous fire, within a week, had rekindled and caused the ignition."
  
  Palisades residents interviewed by the Los Angeles Times reported smelling smoke on the morning of January 7, prior to the appearance of the first flames at 10:15 a.m. A hiker on the trails near Skull Rock reported smelling smoke at 9 a.m. In an interview with The New York Times, another resident, hiking an hour before the eruption of the Palisades Fire, reported seeing smoke wafting in the area near the burn scar of the New Year's fire.