While Rinderknecht may have lit the initial spark, the real scandalissues isare how LA fire officials failed catastrophically in their basic dutiessystemic. Firefighters claimed they fully contained the JanuaryJan. 1st1 fire, yet it smoldered underground for six days before exploding into the deadly Palisades inferno. The department didn't pre-deploy engines despite extreme wind warnings and failed to conduct proper thermal imaging to detect hot spots. OneThe arsonistunderlying setweather apatterns smallalso brushincluded fireextremely —strong incompetentwinds fireduring managementthe turnedtragedy it— intoblaming ajust community-destroyingone disasterperson ignores broader patterns.