Bel Air's Skirball Fire Started With Homeless Encampment

LOS ANGELES, CA — A cooking fire from a homeless encampment is to blame for the Skirball Fire that tore through Bel Air, destroying six upscale homes, forcing thousands to evacuate and shutting down the San Diego (405) Freeway last week, authorities announced Tuesday.

According to Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Peter Sanders, investigators traced the blaze to a longstanding encampment in the brush area at the 405 Sepulveda Boulevard overpass. No suspects have been identified. Los Angeles is home to the nation's largest unsheltered homeless population, which reached epidemic proportions this year. The region has nearly 58,000 homeless people, up 23 percent from the year before.

"It's distressing and it makes a tragic event even more tragic. We've been trying to keep homeless encampments out of the hillsides, particularly during this period, because we knew we had the worst conditions that were the most supportive of wildfires that we have had in decades, with very low humidity and very high winds," L.A. City Councilman Paul Koretz told City News Service.

"We were not aware that there was this encampment there. If we were we would have been encouraging them to move," he said. "But what makes this even more tragic is the tragedy of homelessness, and the fact that we've got tens of thousands of people living on the streets and it means things like this will happen until we get more of a handle on the problem."

Dubbed the Skirball Fire, the seven-day-old blaze is 85 percent contained. It scorched 422 acres since it broke out shortly before 5 a.m. on Dec. 6, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported. The fire forced the closure of 265 schools in the Los Angeles area.

The flames destroyed six homes and damaged 12 others, and at one time prompted the evacuation of about 700 homes and an apartment building in the Bel-Air area. One firefighter suffered neck burns and was treated at a hospital. Two other firefighters suffered minor injuries. Nearly 70 firefighters were still working to douse hot spots.

By Sunday, all road closures and evacuations were lifted. The evacuations covered a 3.2-square-mile area bounded by Mulholland Drive to the north, Sunset Boulevard to the south, the San Diego Freeway to the west and Roscomare Road on the east.

The Getty Center and the nearby Skirball Center, both on the west side of the freeway, closed in the immediate aftermath of the fire but re-opened Friday, when classes at UCLA, Cal State Northridge, Los Angeles Valley College and Santa Monica College also resumed.

RELATED: SoCal Edison Investigated For Its Possible Role In CA Wildfires

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US Homeless Count Rises, Pushed By West Coast

City News Service contributed to this report. Photo: Flames sweep up a steep canyon wall, threatening homes on a ridge line as the Skirball wildfire swept through the Bel Air district of Los Angeles Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)