LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles firefighter testified in a newly released deposition that he told colleagues the ground was still smoldering from a brush fire days before authorities say it reignited into the most destructive blaze in city history.
Scott Pike, a firefighter with the Los Angeles Fire Department, said he told colleagues the ground was still hot Jan. 2, 2025, when he was sent in to help pick up hose left after a New Year’s Day brush in the hillsides near the scenic Pacific Palisades neighborhood. Pike’s comments came in a sworn deposition taken in a lawsuit that was filed by fire victims. The deposition and those of other fire officials were made public this week after city attorneys had moved to keep it confidential for a month.
“I could feel the heat coming off of it, and I didn’t even want to use my gloved hand because it was hot, so I just kicked it with my boot to kind of expose it. And there was like red hot, like coals,” Pike said in the deposition. “I even heard crackling.”
Pike said he was working an overtime shift and mentioned it to other firefighters who were out in the field, but they didn’t seem to think much of it. He said he told a supervisor there were still hot spots, but it wasn’t his job to challenge orders.
“I felt like I got kind of blown off a little bit,” Pike said. “I saw something, I said something.”
Pike, who has worked more than two decades as a firefighter, added that typically hose is left in the field when there is concern a fire could rekindle or if it’s being watched.
Alexander Robertson, an attorney for the fire victims, said he obtained a court order to depose a dozen firefighters tasked with mopping up the Jan. 1 fire. Pike was the only one who indicated fire officials had been warned the blaze had not been fully extinguished when they packed up and left the scene, Robertson said.
The fire, which left 12 dead in the hillside neighborhoods across Pacific Palisades and Malibu, was one of two blazes that broke out on Jan. 7, 2025, killing more than 30 people in all and destroying over 17,000 homes and buildings while burning for days in Los Angeles County.
Authorities have said the blaze was a reignition of the New Year’s Day fire, which federal prosecutors say was started by a man who lived in the area. They charged Jonathan Rinderknecht in October with starting the Palisades fire. Rinderknecht has pleaded not guilty, and his attorney says he’s being used as a scapegoat for the Los Angeles Fire Department’s failure to fully extinguish the earlier blaze.
Alleged fire department failures are at the center of the lawsuit by Palisades fire victims against the city. The lawsuit also alleges the city’s water department failed to provide adequate water resources for firefighting.
An interim LA fire chief previously said such fires linger in root systems and can reach depths of 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to 6.1 meters), making them undetectable by thermal imaging cameras.
Pike’s testimony was offset by the account of Los Angeles Battalion Chief Martin Mullen, who said in his deposition that he responded on Jan. 1, 2025, and personally walked the perimeter of the fire’s burn area four times throughout the day with different assistant chiefs in a process called “cold-trailing,” where firefighters look for hot spots, ember cast and smoke or heat emanating from the ground.
Earlier in the day, he identified a hot spot that he reported to the captain. When he returned later, it was fully extinguished, he said. He said he did not find any hot spots or issues during any of his other walks and by the time he left the scene the fire was “absolutely” extinguished.
“It was a great mop up they did because if they didn’t, I’d still be there,” he said.
Robertson, the plaintiff’s attorney, said the fire department and Mayor Karen Bass’s office have engaged in a “cover-up to conceal and suppress the truth about the Palisades Fire.”
“We will hold them accountable,” he said.
Yusef Robb, an adviser to Bass, said these revelations are alarming. Bass has directed the fire department to commission an independent report on the handling of the New Year’s Day fire.
“For more than a year, Mayor Bass has been extremely public about her demand for transparency and accountability to inform ongoing Fire Department reforms, and because those affected deserve nothing less,” Robb said in an email.
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore, who was appointed in October, is concerned about the differences in the firefighters’ testimonies, the department said in an email.
“That concern underscores why the ongoing independent investigation is so important, and why the Chief is fully committed to providing complete cooperation on behalf of himself and the Department,” the email said.