LA Wildfires

On January 7, 2025, the Palisades Fire erupted in the Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles County. This was the first of over 250 fires that would occur and devastate Los Angeles County. As of January 24, 2025, the fires in LA had killed 29 people, destroyed more than 18,000 structures, and it is expected that the amount of insured damages will reach over $30 billion. Many asked how a diastater like this could ever happen in a city so big as Los Angeles.

The fire ignited in a relatively unusual time, being the winter, because of an unprecedented dry and hot season in Southern California. In Dec. 2024, LA got only 0.02 inches of rain, which is 124 times less than the average rain the city gets in December. In the past three months, LA also got more than four inches less precipitation than on average. The city reached 80°F in December 2024, with the average high in December being only 68°F. The low amount of precipitation caused much vegetation to dry out and become flammable, which was only amplified by the record breaking temperatures. Now, if a small fire had broken out and not spread, I probably would not be writing an article on it, but 90 mph gusts and the Santa Ana Winds caused the fires to spread rapidly. The Santa Ana Winds are powerful winds that originate from Nevada and Utah that squeeze through the mountains surrounding Los Angeles, which is where most of the dry vegetation is located. The dry vegetation easily catching fire, along with the fast gusts, caused the wildfire to spread quickly.

The Palisades Fire was a devastating fire that erupted in the Pacific Palisades, and Malibu areas of Los Angeles. It burned an area of over 37,000 acres, which is six times the size of Port Washington, and killed 12 people. This fire was the first of many to start on January 7, 2025, and it rapidly expanded. 105,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes, and 1,800 firefighters were deployed to fight it, later increasing as the fire progressed, but it still continued to spread with almost 0% containment. Around this time, a now famous firefighting aircraft collided with a drone, destroying it and taking it out of service. As the LA firefighters were outnumbered in fighting the fire, firefighters from elsewhere, like Mexico and Canada, were called in. On January 31, 2025, the fire had finally been 100% contained.

The Eaton Fire was another fire that started on January 7 and ravaged the area of Altadena in Los Angeles County. The fire burned more than 14,000 acres of land, and killed 17 people. The fire allegedly started by an Electrical Transmission Tower catching fire, which caused residents to later sue the company who owned the tower, SoCal Edison. They sued because of the company’s slow response to turn off electricity, and the loss of life as a result of it. 100,000 people were forced to evacuate, and on January 10, a curfew was implemented in the area of Altadena. More than 7,500 structures were destroyed, including the St. Luke’s Medical Center. 

The impact of the LA wildfires was very severe, and will have long-lasting consequences. Many people died directly from the fires, and some died from carbon monoxide poisoning, which is poisoning from an odorless, tasteless, and invisible gas produced by fires. Many historic structures and public buildings like schools and hospitals burned down in the fire, and insured losses were estimated to exceed $20 billion. Many famous celebrities’ homes burned down, including Barbara Corcoran, who was a Shark on Shark Tank and Paris Hilton, who is a media personality. The air quality also became hazardous in Los Angeles county, causing risks for lung disease.

The response to the fire brought much criticism. There was not enough water to fight the fires, as the three, one-million gallon tanks of water supplying the Pacific Palisades Region were completely emptied the day after the fire started. This caused hoses not to have enough water pressure to fight the fires, and there also not being enough water to fight them. Many conservative news sources, like Fox News and Turning Point USA attributed the lack of water supply to the construction of hydroelectric dams, and President-elect Donald Trump blamed California Governor Gavin Newsom for this. However, these claims were debunked because the LA area had never received water from the area where the dam was built. Many people also blamed LA Mayor Karen Bass’s absence during the start of the wildfire, because she was going to Ghana for the inauguration of president John Mahama. Some called for her to be recalled from her position because she was not there during the fire, but others say she wouldn’t have known about the fire before she left. Some, including the runner up in the 2022 LA mayoral election, Rick Caruso, also criticized budget cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD).  LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley was later fired by mayor Karen Bass after speaking out about budget cuts to the department.