Investigators think they know the general area where the fire started, in the hills around Temescal Ridge Trail, but as for how it started there are still multiple options.
One possibility is a fire which happened about a week earlier. It was apparently started by fireworks and was put out by firefighters after it burned 8 acres. But it’s possible that some embers were still burning underground. One neighbor who was hiking the area the morning the fire started saw smoke but no flames that morning.
On the morning the Jan. 7 fire ignited, Mr. Giller said he saw what resembled smoke or dust wafting in the area. “It had the appearance of smoke around there, but there were no flames,” he said in an interview. “It just raised a question in my mind. What is it? I was thinking, could this thing still be active? But it seemed unlikely, you know — could there…
