Citizens of Los Angeles and its surrounding suburbs were awoken early on Tuesday, January 7th by the arid and sour odor of smoke. Overnight, a wildfire had broken out in the Pacific Palisades suburb, one of the wealthiest towns in California. Black smoke billowed across the Los Angeles skyline, casting a dark shadow over the city. Citizens along the coast of the Golden State were impacted by the fire, with winds of nearly 100 mph carrying smoke and ash across the state. Californians and viewers across the world were in shock, not believing how this could be possible at this time of year.
Typically, wildfires in North America occur in the summer months, with the “season” generally spanning from June to October. However, due to changes in climate patterns, what was once a seasonal threat has now become a year-round reality. “Climate change, including increased heat, extended drought, and a thirsty atmosphere, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in the western United States,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says. An extended drought, worsened by unprecedented dry air created the perfect storm for a devastating natural disaster like this. These fires, however, have been the latest in a long, horrific line of disasters that have become more and more common over the past decade. It raises the question: Why does this keep happening?
Jeffrey and Cheryl Ku, a couple from the LA suburb of Altadena, described their experiences with the fire in an ABC news interview. “It was a nightmare,” Jeffrey Ku said. “And I think the worst part was every time I checked on the fire, it got worse.”
A Pacific Palisades resident Mike Geller, expressed his disbelief and shock following the fires. “Thank God I was able to retrieve my birth certificate. But every possession my children have accumulated … gone, decimated,” Geller said. “I’m in shock. I’m not even sure how I’m talking to you. I’m absolutely in shock. I’m just going through the motions. It hasn’t really set in yet.”
These accounts are among thousands of stories that citizens of Los Angeles will continue to tell in the coming years. Until action is taken, people across the world will be stricken by grief and tragedy, mourning on what has been lost rather than looking towards what lies in the future.
Over 150,000 people have been forced to evacuate or flee their homes, and five people have passed away. In 2020 alone, California experienced five of the largest wildfires in its history, burning over 4.2 million acres. This current fire, while smaller, highlights the alarming trend of year-round wildfire threats due to climate change. 17,000 acres of land have burned, and over 2000 homes, schools, and other essential buildings have been utterly destroyed. Billions of dollars of damage have been inflicted, with more to come in the future. Since October 2024, the Los Angeles area has received a lowly 2.2% of their average rainfall, marking the driest winter in their history thus far. This grim precedent seems like it will become more and more common in the coming years.
Two main factors contributed to the vast damage that the fire has inflicted so far. Firstly, the strong and dry Santa Ana winds that blow from the Mojave Desert and sweep across the West coast. These winds are normal for this region during the winter, but when coupled with a historically dry winter, it created the perfect circumstances for destruction.
Beyond physical damage, the LA fire has been devastating for the California economy and the citizens living there. Due to the high threat of earthquakes and wildfires, large insurance companies like Wells Fargo and Allstate have outright refused to insure homes for years. This means that almost every Californian receives insurance through state sponsored programs, small insurance companies with inconsistent infrastructure, or they go without insurance at all. With the fires causing over 50 billion dollars in damages, and only 20 billion of this being insured, both citizens and businesses face a major problem. Insurance companies are struggling to stay afloat, unable to pay back the numerous claims they face. Many homeowners that did not have insurance will likely be unable to rebuild their homes and will face economic insecurity.In response to increasing wildfire threats, California recently passed legislation to invest $3 billion into forest management and clean energy initiatives. However, experts argue that this is just the beginning of what’s needed to combat the growing crisis. The LA fire has opened the world’s eyes to the dangers of climate change and the severe consequences of ignoring its presence.
The cause behind these increasingly devastating wildfires lies in a drastic change in climate conditions over the past decades. Historically long droughts, rising global temperatures, and varying weather patterns have dried out vegetation and increased the speed of melting snowcaps. These new factors have exacerbated the already severe fire season, and essentially extended it throughout the entire year. Daniel Swain, the lead author of the research and a climate scientists at UCLA stated, “This whiplash sequence in California has increased fire risk twofold: first, by greatly increasing the growth of flammable grass and brush in the months leading up to fire season, and then by drying it out to exceptionally high levels with the extreme dryness and warmth that followed.” Historic flooding in the spring and summer season allows vegetation to thrive and explode beyond normal amounts, inevitably becoming the fuel that allows wildfires to grow.
Climate change is a ticking time bomb that has been overlooked by the general public for too long. While many groups have made deliberate efforts to bring the issue to the world stage, more often than not people choose profit over preservation. United Nations Secretary General António Guterres made these remarks at the G20 summit last year: “Greenhouse gas emissions keep growing. Global temperatures keep rising. And our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible. We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.”
In a NASA research study conducted to anticipate future climate implications on different United States regions, they found that in the Southwest “climate change has caused increased heat, drought, and insect outbreaks. In turn, these changes have made wildfires more numerous and severe. The warming climate has also caused a decline in water supplies, reduced agricultural yields, and triggered heat-related health impacts in cities. In coastal areas, flooding and erosion are additional concerns.” Despite the overwhelming evidence that climate change is the culprit behind the numerous natural disasters our world has experienced in the past decades, the global stance remains indifferent.
In the eyes of many, economic growth and solutions to climate change are mutually exclusive. According to the Pew Research Center, 34% of Americans want to expand oil and natural gas production rather than sustainable energy, with the main factor in their decision making being oil production is cheaper than clean energy. If the people of the United States are not willing to make sacrifices for a cleaner and healthier world, we are accepting a fate that is coming to fruition each day. California will be an epicenter of climate change in the coming years, with the California Department of Justice projecting that sea levels will rise 20-55 inches in the coming century. With 80% of the population living in coastal areas, this could threaten to displace over a million people and destroy over 100 billion dollars of property. Between 2009-2018, over 7 million acres of land were burned and destroyed throughout California.
Innovative solutions are already making an impact on our counterattack against climate change. California has invested in advanced fire detection systems that use satellite data to identify fires before they spread, allowing for faster and more efficient evacuation and firefighting practices. Additionally, regenerative agriculture practices, such as cover cropping and no-till farming, are being adopted to improve soil health and reduce fire risks.
With a steady flow of innovative ideas and a united front against the threat of climate change, devastating natural disasters should lessen in severity and regularity. It is vital that we take this opportunity to grow and move forward, rather than sit idly by as another catastrophe strikes.
