Numerous Los Angeles residents are reporting to have seen, firsthand, people starting fires in the area.
On Jan. 9, comedian Whitney Cummins uploaded a viral TikTok to her account (@realwhitneycummins) about this rumor. According to the entertainer, she received a text message from a friend who claims they witnessed someone starting one such fire.
In her video she speaks directly into the camera, relaying the nature of her friend’s text. “This is a real text that I just received from a friend of mine,” she says. “About the fires. I’m not gonna cry cause I got torn apart for my last TikTok video where I cried about my house maybe burning down. I’ll spare you.” Cummins is referencing a video she posted online of her evacuating her home in the wake of the L.A. fires.
Next, Cummins went on to discuss the message she received from her friend. “She’s on a plane. And I said you know do you want me to go to your house and get stuff out? Like things that you can’t replace. I’ll go right now. Even though the area’s evacuated. She wrote back you can’t get in. Topanga’s barricaded. The back way we use is being guarded by fire trucks now. Because some of the neighbors caught a guy setting more fires on the back of our hill. They chased him away, they called 9-1-1.”
The comic went on to delineate more details of the messages her friend relayed to her. According to them, there are other instances of folks trying to feed the flames. “I think they caught the guy recently in Woodland Hills trying to put gasoline in sewers,” she says. “It’s happening all over.”
Is someone intentionally starting fires in L.A.?
Cummins went on to state that she doesn’t believe there’s any good reason for someone contributing to the L.A. fires.
@realwhitneycummings LA fires takes a sinister turn dude.
♬ original sound – WhitneyCummings
“OK,” she says. “Happy to talk about climate change. I’m not a scientist. So I don’t understand enough about it to weigh in. I think this is also a mental illness crisis. What do you say, unalived? When someone unalives someone? I’m the first person to go, I’d like to hear their side of the story. I’m sure they should be in jail but like, I just wanna hear their side of the story.”
She continued, “Arsonists: I don’t need to hear your side of the story. Your story sucks.”
Furthermore, actor and writer Gianni Paolo (@giannivpaolo) also claims that there are people intentionally burning parts of Los Angeles. “Someone is setting these fires,” he says. “I don’t know who it is. But I said this yesterday and everyone said I was insensitive. I don’t know how weather works, embers this and that. There’s no way it’s going from Palisades to Pasadena to Hollywood Hills, now Calabasas closest to me. It’s just, it’s insane.”
He says that the sporadic nature of how the fires are starting and cropping up in different locations is extremely suspect. “Any moment you don’t know where the next one can be. Because you don’t know how they’re even happening. So, someone is setting these fires and it’s just it’s insane at this point.”
Are arsonists at work in L.A.?
Afterwards, Paolo relayed, “Apparently they said that now they have someone in custody. For the Kenneth fire, which is the closest one to me.” CBS News reported on an alleged arsonist who was arrested in purported connection to the Kenneth Fire. Paolo continued, “Hidden Hills, Calabasas, over there. So I mean there’s proof. There’s people saying that they’re seeing people set fires. I don’t know who it is. If you guys have any information please tell me.”
@giannivpaolo Replying to @Jupiter #palisadesfire #pasadenafire #calabasasfire #lafires #kennethfire ♬ original sound – Gianni Paolo
Furthermore, Paolo details the reality that many Californians now have to life with due to the massive L.A. fires. He states that he’s ready to leave at a moment’s notice and has made necessary preparations to do so. “My car’s packed; I’m just waiting for something to happen, something bad to happen,” he says.
There have been a number of reports from other individuals who’ve also claimed to have spotted fires intentionally being started in L.A. One X poster speculated that some of the flames began as part of a home burglary scheme.
So are arsonists at work in L.A.? It’s still unclear. Officials are still investigating the initial cause of the fires, which could be arson or a downed utility line. High winds are moving embers from existing fires, which is what’s causing the fires to spread in an unpredictable and unusual manner.
Citizens patrol for arsonists
There have been other reports of civilians in neighborhoods watching out for arsonists. In this X post, there’s footage of what appears to be numerous people catching someone in the act surfaced online. A group of residents work together to detain the alleged fire starter, putting him on the ground and restraining him.
Another video seems to show a separate area in a different residential neighborhood of a person committing attempted arson. In this clip, the police arrive on scene to subdue the suspect perpetrator.
Moreover, there’s this viral clip posted by YouTubers the Dew Boys who took it upon themselves to put out L.A. flames. Using bottles of drinking water, they are seen patrolling a vicinity looking for fires to put out. Their clip culminates in them being chased by someone. The individual can be seen running after their car and throwing something at it. Once the person walks away, the Dew Boys approach the fire he started near an underpass and extinguish it.
TikTokers agree
Numerous commenters who responded to Cummins’ post stated that they, too, felt as if the fires were intentional. “Feels like an attack,” one TikToker wrote.
Another noted that almost immediately after Cummins posted her video, an arsonist was detained by police. “The video right before this was interviewing a guy that caught someone and zip tied him till police came! INSANE!” wrote another user.
Others were disgusted by the accusations. “Mind blowing. How can people even think to do this,” one said.
While someone else likened it to another series of recent fires in Hawaii. They wrote, “This has Maui vibes like no other.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Cummins via TikTok comment, Paolo via Instagram DM, and the LAPD via email for further comment.
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