About

LA Fires Arson Theory, also known as the Los Angeles Palisades Fire Started By Homeless Rumor, refers to speculation and conspiracy theories about what caused the Los Angeles Palisades Fires, with numerous internet users discussing the possibility that people in homeless encampments or arsonists with malicious intentions may have caused the California wildfires that ravaged the city in early January 2025. Several prominent conservative figures repeated the theories, including podcasters Joe Rogan and Andrew Huberman, among other individuals. On January 15th, a man caught allegedly trying to spark fires using a blowtorch in a West Hills neighborhood was arrested on suspicion of starting the Kenneth Fire that burned a total of roughly 1052 acres.

Origin

One of the earliest claims of people intentionally starting the LA fires appeared online on the first day of the Palisades fires on January 7th, 2025, with Twitter^[1] / X user @FirePhotoGirl posting a video captioned, "Unbelievable I am literally fighting with a homeless person who is lighting fires!!!! She told me she is doing a good thing. Colton jurisdiction." The video gathered over 2.2 million views and 9,000 likes in 10 days.

Unbelievable I am literally fighting with a homeless person who is lighting fires!!!! She told me she is doing a good thing. Colton jurisdiction. #firealert pic.twitter.com/V9e6TtGriA

— FirePhotoGirl (@FirePhotoGirl) January 7, 2025

Spread

On January 10th, 2025, Redditor^[7] /u/chungkingroad posted a photo of a man to the subreddit /r/therewasanattempt leaning out of his car to bend over a fire, alleging that he was trying to "get away with arson." The post gathered over 1,000 upvotes in five days.

More confirmed reports of Los Angeles residents finding, reporting or stopping people from lighting fires began making the rounds online in January 2025, as seen in a January 11th, 2025, X^[2] post by neuroscientist and podcaster Andrew Huberman that gathered over 10 million views and 44,000 likes in a week.

People are lighting fires in otherwise non-burning urban areas of LA. Saw this happen first hand at 302 Pico in Santa Monica. Called it in & fire dept & police responded. Stay safe and call in any activity ASAP. We don’t need more flames out here. pic.twitter.com/AZ4GLr6N3q

— Andrew D. Huberman, Ph.D. (@hubermanlab) January 9, 2025

Also on January 11th, the X / Twitter^[3] account @BNODesk posted a video of a man named "Jose Carranza-Escobar" being arrested after admitting to starting a fire in Los Angeles County's Pioneer Park. The video gathered over 500,000 views and 3,000 likes in a week.

Homeless man arrested for arson after setting fire in Pioneer Park in Los Angeles County.The fire last night was quickly extinguished. Jose Carranza-Escobar admitted to setting the fire. pic.twitter.com/2f9ncl6Lt5

— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) January 11, 2025

On January 11th, 2025, the X^[4] account of the NY Post (@nypost) shared a video of people tackling a supposedly homeless man carrying a "flamethrower," with KTLA^[5] reporting that no arson charges were brought against the man. Instead, he was booked on a felony probation violation charge. The man was reportedly seen riding around Woodland Hills on a bicycle, with unconfirmed reports of neighbors claiming that he was lighting old Christmas trees and garbage cans on fire.

Video shows homeless man with ‘flamethrower’ tackled by residents in California pic.twitter.com/UKl4Bddx7c

— New York Post (@nypost) January 11, 2025

On January 15th, comedian and podcaster Bill Burr went on Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show and criticized internet users about "bands of illegal immigrants and homeless people" were lighting fires, saying that "they light fires every day." The YouTube^[6] video of the interview gathered over 1 million views in a day.

Also on January 15th, 2025, the Los Angeles Police Chief hosted a press conference announcing the arrest of an arsonist, who said that he set the fire because he "liked the smell of burning leaves." Another suspect who admitted to setting multiple fires was booked that day, saying that she liked to cause "chaos and destruction." KTLA posted a recording of the conference on YouTube,^[8] gathering over 14,000 views in a day.

Search Interest

External References