Who started the L.A. fires?

Are organized Iranian, Russian, or Antifa terrorists sparking fires?

How can we speculate reasonably about the causes of the half-dozen brush fires in Los Angeles County so far this week?

You can divide causes up into:

Direct/immediate: what caused the spark that set the fire, such as power lines falling in the wind, motorists throwing cigarette butts out the window, homeless campfires, arson, etc.

Watching local news early Thursday morning, the announcer said that at present there are no official causes for any.

The Department of Water and Power is denying its power lines’ involvement in the horrific Eaton fire in Altadena above Pasadena in the San Gabriel Valley, but merely saying it’s investigating the smaller (so far) Hurst fire in Sylmar in the northern San Fernando Valley.

The horrendous Pacific Palisades fire has an address reported by the fire department, but it’s unclear whether that’s where idiots set off the fire or where upright citizens first noticed the smoke on the horizon. (So I’m not going to repeat the address.) Google Maps locates the fire near a hiking trail in the mountains about a mile east of that address, but offers no suggestions on why they chose that particular spot.

The Woodley fire, a grass fire in the Sepulveda Dam flood control area in the middle of the San Fernando Valley that erupted at dawn on Wednesday, but was quickly put out, sounds like either homeless dudes or an arsonist. This location is on flat land near the 405 and 101 freeways,

The Sunset fire (apparently named because it was discovered around Sunset, although for awhile it threatened the Sunset Strip a mile or two to the south) broke out around sunset on Wednesday near the top of the extremely popular Runyon Canyon hiking trail (an off-leash dog walking park) that uniquely leads up from densely populated Hollywood to Mulholland Drive on the crest of the Hollywood Hills.

The evacuation zone for the Sunset fire sounded like a list of famous movies and songs: the Hollywood Freeway on the east, Mulholland Drive on the north, Laurel Canyon on the west, and Hollywood Boulevard on the south.

The wind blew the fire south toward the apartment buildings of Hollywood. For about 30 minutes, this fire seemed like it could turn into an utterly apocalyptic event that would rip through the heart of the nation’s second biggest city, with likely global economic consequences.

Paywall coming up: