From the Los Angeles Times, January 14:
The five men were meditating off a trail near Skull Rock in the hills above Pacific Palisades on the morning of Jan. 7.
With their eyes closed, they spoke about how they were feeling, what they were sensing.
One said, “I feel my breath slowing down.” Another said, “I feel gravity increasing.”
Then, all at once, four of them said the same thing: “I smell fire.”
The five men, including Beni Oren, a 24-year-old who runs a glamping business, were the first to spot the Palisades fire in its earliest stages, around 10:15 a.m., sources told The Times. Video recorded by the trail runners shows them dashing down the hillside away from the flames and smoke.
But what started as a traumatic, near-death experience turned into what he said was a longer-term nightmare after Oren posted his video of the experience on social media.
With so little information about the origin of the deadly fires that are still burning in Los Angeles, people on the internet began casting suspicion on the men who were so close to the ignition point of the fire.
“I’ve been feeling a mix of emotions. It’s definitely kind of infuriating that people are blaming us,” Oren said in an interview with The Times. “Also it’s scary. Just knowing as a matter of fact of our experience that we didn’t do it but then seeing the amount of people that have different theories is overwhelming.”
The Palisades fire has burned more than 23,000 acres as of Tuesday morning. It was 18% contained as of Tuesday night. At least nine people have been killed.
Oren said he and his friends decided to go for a trail run that morning and summited Skull Rock around 10 a.m. before going off trail to meditate on another nearby rock. When they smelled smoke, the men opened their eyes and saw flames cresting over the ridge of the mountain. Oren said he could not see exactly where the fire started, just that it was coming over the ridge. The flames seemed about 10 feet high. The fire was about 100 feet away....
....MUCH MORE including vids.
We didn't blame them, just said they should be interrogated.
Here are the versions of the videos reposted by reporter Bill Melugin:
