Investigators say last year’s destructive Mountain Fire in Ventura County was likely sparked when powerful winds reignited hot tire debris from a week-old tractor blaze — a chain of events similar to how the deadly Palisades Fire began months later.

According to the Ventura County Fire Department, arson investigators determined that extreme winds on Nov. 6, 2024, dislodged a pocket of covered, still-hot tire debris left behind from a smaller tractor fire days earlier. Once exposed to oxygen, the smoldering material ignited nearby dry brush, triggering the fast-moving Mountain Fire that tore through parts of Somis and Santa Paula.

The blaze scorched nearly 20,000 acres and damaged or destroyed 369 structures, forcing mass evacuations but causing no deaths.

“The Mountain Fire was devastat

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