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An infernal shower of flames continues to ravage the Los Angeles metropolitan area, where the death toll has now risen to at least 10 people.
Although authorities have not yet identified the exact causes of most of the fires, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested an individual accused of causing one of them. But what has become abundantly clear is that a mix of abundant, dry vegetation and windy weather has fueled the flames and shocked a water system overloaded.
Firefighters were expecting a brief respite heading into the weekend on Friday, with Santa Ana winds expected to die down temporarily but then pick up again Sunday.
A firefighter puts out a burn before the advancing Kenneth Fire in the West Hills section of Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
What fires are still burning and contained?
As of midday Friday, five fires of 10 acres or more were burning, though many smaller fires also dotted the greater Los Angeles metro area.
- The Fire of Palisadesthat has decimated the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, began Tuesday morning and has now expanded to 20,438 acres. The fire is only 8 percent contained, according to Cal Fire.
- The Eaton Fireburning north of Pasadena, started Tuesday night and has grown to 13,956 acres, with just 3 percent containment.
- The 771 acres Hurst Fireburning in the San Fernando Valley, also started Tuesday night and is now 37 percent contained.
- The Lydia Firethat erupted Wednesday in the Angeles National Forest, is 75 percent contained and has burned 395 acres.
- A fifth large-scale fire, the Kenneth Firebegan Thursday near the 101 Freeway in the West Hills region and has expanded to 1,000 acres and is 35 percent contained. LAPD is currently investigating a possible arson related to this fire and has arrested a suspect.
The devastation of the Palisades Fire is seen early in the morning in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Is the air breathable in the LA region?
The possible direct impact of smoke from several of the large fires is causing unhealthy air quality in Los Angeles County, according to Los Angeles County Public Health. The to smoke It is expected to most severely affect the northwest coastal region of the county, including Pacific Palisades, Altadena, Pasadena and San Fernando, the agency said.
“Smoke and ash can harm anyone, even those who are healthy,” Los Angeles County Health Officer Muntu Davis said in a statement, adding that individuals at greatest risk include those who are pregnant, older adults, children and people with heart. or lung conditions or weakened immune systems.
Public health officials urged residents to use air conditioners that recirculate air and filter out hazardous particles, while wearing N95 or P100 masks if they must go outside in smoky conditions.
The federal government’s AirNow air quality map determines the extent of air pollutioneasily apparentwith much of the Los Angeles region receiving labels ranging from “unhealthy for sensitive groups” to “dangerous”.
Although the most dangerous air quality levels were those adjacent to actively burning flames, with stations in these areas reporting “hazardous” or “very unhealthy” concentrations of pollutants even in more distant regions from the fires, such as Long Beach, showed “unhealthy” pollution levels. .
Garrett Yost collects water from a pool as he surveys his neighbors’ fire-ravaged properties after the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/John Locher)
what about water
As for water quality, the public health department said it was issuing aOcean Water Warning“out of an abundance of caution” as wildfire debris can run into the ocean, beach sand, rivers, streams and ponds.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has issuedboil water warningsin certain neighborhoods, telling residents to use boiled tap water or bottled water to avoid stomach or intestinal illnesses.
Another question related to water wreaking havoc Throughout the region there has been a lack of sufficient supplies to put out the flames. President-elect Trump guilty repeatedly Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for unavailability of waterafter efforts to fill massive storage tanks left hydrants high and dry.
trump Newsom charged of blocking efforts to pump more water from Northern California into the Los Angeles region, an accusation the governor’s team called “pure fiction.” Meanwhile, experts have maintained that moving more water in this way would be impractical from an infrastructure standpoint, as well as completely unnecessary.
Water drops from a helicopter on the advancing Palisades fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
Did climate change play a role?
Climatologists have long warned that no event can be definitively attributed to climate change. However, climate change, driven primarily by greenhouse gas emissions, creates circumstances that make wildfires like California’s much more likely and much more difficult to fight.
In recent years, California experienced what Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, called a “hydroclimate blow.” Beginning in the 2020s, the state had experienced years of drought conditions, but recorded record rainfall in late 2022 and 2023, largely in the form of “atmospheric river” weather events.
This precipitation stimulated above-average vegetation growth, and when it occurred last summer historically high heatan unusually dry start to the rainy season compounded the effect by leaving large amounts of grass and brush vulnerable to fire. The downtown Los Angeles area, which typically receives about 4.5 inches of rain at this point in the season, has received less than an inch since October.
Drought conditions have also resulted in less water available to fight fires and fewer opportunities to conduct the controlled burns needed to keep dry brush under control.
Flames rise as the Palisades Fire moves through homes in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Will fires affect property insurance?
Total damage from the fires could be as much as$135 billion to $150 billionaccording to an updated preliminary analysis from the AccuWeather Global Weather Center on Thursday. Those figures weremore than double the estimatesissued the day before, when they were between 52 billion and 57 billion dollars.
“Tragically, lives have been changed forever in a matter of minutes,” Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather, said in a statement. “The recovery process will be extremely expensive and emotionally challenging in the coming months and years.”
Analysts predicted that the devastation would only worsen California’s existing insurance crisis, causing more companies to drop out and refuse to issue new policies and causing premiums to rise in high-risk areas.
“Families and businesses need to be able to buy insurance at a reasonable price, but insurance companies can’t continue to absorb big loss after big loss,” Porter said. “This is an important problem that society must address in an increasingly extreme world. weather impacts”.
Meanwhile, California’s insurance commissioner issued a Thursday one year moratorium on cancellations and non-renewals of policies in the areas affected by the fires. The mandate prohibits companies from removing or refusing to renew policies for properties located within or adjacent to fire perimeters.
