EXCLUSIVE: Firefighter reveals two men were caught on camera lighting fire just before Palisades blaze erupted in LA
Two men are said to have been caught on camera dumping gasoline and setting it alight immediately before the devastating Palisades fire broke out, DailyMail.com has learned exclusively.
A resident of the ritzy celeb-packed area reported the video to a senior firefighter once the flames had started consuming the area.
‘By then we were too busy,’ the firefighter told DailyMail.com. ‘We told him to take the video to the police.’
But what happened to the footage remains a mystery as cops have not confirmed that the uncontrollable blaze, which has caused damage in the billions of dollars, was set deliberately.
News of the video comes amid growing suspicions of arson or foul play after one person was arrested for allegedly starting another blaze, the Kenneth Fire, on Thursday, police said. The man has not been charged.
Two days before that incident, a senior firefighter was one of the first on the scene battling the original Palisades blaze with his crew on North Piedra Morada Drive at the top of the Highlands Palisades neighborhood, when a resident approached him with a shocking claim.
‘We had a resident come to us and said he got a video of two men dumping gas and lighting it off,’ said the LAFD official, who asked to remain anonymous.
The subsequent fire grew to almost 20,000 acres and wiped out most of the elite Pacific Palisades neighborhood.