The name "Pilot" refers to where the fire was first reported: the Pilot Rock Conservation Camp, a minimum-security prison camp/fire camp consisting of inmates trained for firefighting.[2][3][4]
On March 1, 2017 six months after the fire, fire investigators with the San Bernardino National Forest determined the cause was by a vehicle on fire.[5]
^"Pilot fire forces thousands to evacuate". The Whittier Daily News. 8 August 2016. Because it began near the Pilot Rock Conservation Camp, it was named the Pilot fire.