Los Angeles Wildfires Cause Devastating Damage
On January 7, a simple brush fire grew into a raging blaze in the LA neighborhood, Pacific Palisades.
Named for its origin, the Palisades Fire was the first of a series of devastating fires that spread throughout the LA area. The second wildfire to break out was the Eaton Fire, starting hours after the Palisades fire in a canyon north of downtown LA.
Together these fires burned about 37,469 acres of land and destroyed or damaged 16,218 structures. More fires erupted throughout the following weeks, the biggest being the Hughes Fire. This fire started on January 22 in Northern Los Angeles County and covered over 10,000 acres. Several parts of Southern California outside of LA faced smaller fires scorching thousands of additional acres.
The damage caused by the fires is exponential, taking out entire neighborhoods and leaving up to thousands homeless. The LA fires also have led to the tragic deaths of 29 people and officials warn that this number could grow. As of today, all fires remain approximately 97-100% contained as firefighters work tirelessly to extinguish them completely.
Many of the 200,000 plus people who evacuated from the area are beginning to return and assess the damages. Additionally, clean-up efforts have been launched as the amount of debris is extensive.
The official cause of the fires has not been determined, but they are most likely due to the drought conditions and strong offshore winds. Preceding the fires, Southern California was in extreme drought, only receiving 10% of the average rainfall since October 1.
This combined with powerful offshore winds with gusts up to 70 mph created the perfect setting for wildfires to catch. In the wake of these fires, many climate experts are attributing the rising global temperature as part of the cause for these increasingly intense wildfires we are seeing.
The rising temperatures have increased drought conditions which allow for small wildfires to intensify quickly. Many resources have been set up online to help victims of the wildfires after the devasting loss.
