Local Firefighters Knew Lachman Fire Wasn’t Out

The Palisades Fire at sundown on January 7. The cause of the fire was an earlier fire, the Lachman Fire, that had not been completely put out.

Today, the L.A. Times broke the story (“Days Before Palisades Inferno, Firefighters Were Ordered to Leave Smoldering Burn Site”) that firefighters knew that the ground was still smoldering from the Lachman Fire that took place on state land above the Palisades Highlands click here.

The Times was able to access firefighter text messages and reported in the story that “Their battalion chief ordered them to roll up their hoses and pull out of the area on January 2, the day after the 8-acre blaze was declared contained, rather than stay and make sure there were no hidden embers that could spark a new fire, the text messages said.”

The Times had text messages between three firefighters and a third party that disclosed details about the Los Angeles Fire Department’s handling of the Lachman Fire. According to the Times, “the third party asked that he and the firefighters had not been named because they were not authorized to speak publicly” and “firefighters complained that commanders failed to make certain that the mop-up was finished.”

The L.A. Times noted in another text that “crews at Station 69 in the Palisades were surprised that they were told to roll up their hoses the day after the [Lachman] fire. “

In another text “a firefighter who was at the scene on January 2 wrote that the battalion chief had been told it was a ‘bad idea’ to leave the burn scar unprotected because of the visible signs of smoldering terrain,” the Times reports. “’And the rest is history,’” the firefighter wrote in recent weeks.”

Attorney Roger Behle, who is representing numerous Palisades Fire victims, was on the John Kobylt Show on October 27 and told John that people had called 911 after January 2 to let authorities know the hill was still “smoking” [after the Lachman Fire] but were told if there were no flames so there was nothing the operator could do. Behle said he had video.

The Times reported that firefighters had to obey orders but after the Palisades Fire started, they knew immediately what had caused it.

The Palisades Fire would destroy nearly 7,000 structures and killed 12. According to the UCLA Anderson School economic impact report total property and capital losses could range between $76 billion and $131 billion, with insured losses estimated up to $45 billion.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives did the investigation of the Palisades Fire and an October 8 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office blamed that Fire on the earlier Lachman Fire.

“Law enforcement determined that the Palisades Fire was a ‘holdover’fire – a continuation of the Lachman Fire that began early in the morning on New Year’s Day 2025. Although firefighters quickly suppressed the Lachman Fire, unbeknownst to anyone the fire continued to smolder and burn underground within the root structure of dense vegetation.”

Jonathan Rinderknecht was arrested for starting the Lachman Fire and pleaded not guilty. A trial is tentatively set for December 16.

Many Palisades residents may remember former LAFD assistant chief Patrick Butler, who is now the Redondo Beach Fire Chief. In 2015, he helped put out a homeless fire on the Via de las Olas Bluffs and aided the Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness post signs that prohibited camping in the brush.

Butler was quoted in the L.A. Times story ““It is a common practice for firefighters to check on past wildfires because you want to make sure it is dead out,” Butler said. “You don’t leave until you have 100% mop-up because fire can hide underground and reignite unexpectedly even weeks later.”

The Times asked to interview Mayor Karen Bass and Former Fire Chief Kristin Crowley about the text messages or for a comment, but there was no response.