Connected?

This and this?

(gimmick stolen from Althouse)

(she managed to do it without explanation, but I can't resist highlighting the intersecting sections of the two articles)

The pertinent passages in the two articles

The fast-moving but short-lived blaze began inside Malibu Bluffs State Park, Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman said. Windblown embers spread below to Malibu Road and set fire to the homes along the beach, he said.

Malibu Mayor Ken Kearsley, who said he has lived through nine fires during his 40 years in the area, was driving past the blaze and saw flames 10 to 15 feet high blast south out of the park, pushed by 50-mph winds.

and in the second article

Clad in crisp blue dress uniforms and knee-high black boots, the French officers traveled over Kanan Dume Road and several other Santa Monica Mountain roadways before taking Pacific Coast Highway to Paradise Cove, where lunch was served.

Retired police officers Roy Kautz and Jerry Reisinger followed the motorcade on their own personal motorcycles. Reisinger, a former CHP motorcycle officer, laughed when several French officers pulled out cigarettes and lighted up after they parked their machines in a long row outside the Paradise Cove restaurant.

"Probably not one motor cop in 100 smokes here," Reisinger said.

I'm not saying anything, but a scenario where visitors who don't know the extreme danger of even the smallest spark on a day like Monday (sub 10% humidity, wind gusts over 50 mph) who was visiting SoCal for the first time and was enjoying a smoke while watching the sunset over the Pacific might not think twice about flicking their cigarette to the ground.

If there's anything left of the ignition source, and it's one of these brands of smokes, then we'll have a good idea.