Fueled by dry conditions and strong winds, a series of dangerous wildfires have been roaring through much of southern California since Tuesday, January 7th. Death, injury, and evacuation have been consequences for many. Officials are doing everything they can to put an end to the devastating fires and return the Los Angeles area to a state of normalcy.
The Palisades fire erupted on Tuesday morning in the Pacific Palisades, a Los Angeles neighborhood just east of Malibu. This fire is by far the largest of any of the fires, stretching across nearly 23,000 acres of land. The Eaton fire ignited on Tuesday night in a sprawling forest just north of downtown Los Angeles. About 14,000 acres of land have been destroyed by this particular fire. The Hurst fire, which started on Thursday night in Sylmar, a suburb north of San Fernando, has now expanded over 800 acres of land. Although many other fires have taken advantage of the state of California, these three have been the most significant.
As of right now, the Palisades fire is 14% contained. The Eaton fire is 33% contained, and the Hurst fire is 97% contained. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) have been dedicated to preventing these fires. Forest Service firefighters and soldiers and airmen from California’s Army National Guard and Air National Guard have been combating these fires for the last several days. They have worked to suppress the fires by creating containment lines around the blazes, either with roads and highways or natural barriers such as rivers or other waterways. Containment lines can also be constructed by digging wide trenches around a fire’s flank or by eliminating vegetation and other “power sources” in the immediate area that could ignite. To remove heat from the fires, tons of water and fire retardant have been applied to the flames through pumps, wildland fire engines, helicopters, and airplanes.
When the fires were at their peak, close to 200,000 people were under evacuation. About 100,000 U.S. citizens are still in evacuation warning zones. The fires have burned down entire homes, neighborhoods, and various city structures, leaving them to settle as piles of ash.
By the time they’re over, it is estimated that these fires will have caused anywhere from $50 billion to $250 billion worth of damage to and economic loss to Los Angeles. The insured losses from last week’s fires have already exceeded $20 billion.
At least 24 people have perished due to the devastating fires. However, that number is still likely to grow, according to officials. At least 16 of these lives were claimed in the Eaton fire, and 8 of them in the Palisades fire.
A great chunk of people have been injured in both the Palisade and the Eaton fires too. Officials from the Los Angeles county medical examiner’s office are just now beginning to access the damaged areas for checkups and missing person reports. Human remains from the fires cannot be processed until they are brought back to the proper facilities. It could still even take weeks to determine those who were killed.
U.S. citizens are extremely curious as to what sparked the fires. There have been a great deal of questionable conspiracies regarding this matter. A specific cause has not yet been determined, but global warming has been expressed as the most logical factor. In southern California, it has not rained for the last eight months. The hot climate and drought like conditions are major indicators towards the fires ignition. Since 1950, spring and summer temperatures have been steadily increasing. Snowmelt has also been occurring earlier. Strong winds coming from the north that have been measured at seventy miles per hour have mixed with the area’s bone dry vegetation, leading to the fires rapid growth. These winds are better known as “Santa Ana winds”. Some believe that an exhausted power line hit the ground and began the fires while others think that a lightning bolt hit a power line and ignited the flames. Certain people even believe that someone in a camper lit a match in the Pacific Palisades, which caused the fires to blow up.
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass has been heavily scrutinized over the past few days because she was posing for photos at an embassy cocktail party in Ghana when her city was just starting to become engulfed in flames. She was in Ghana as part of a Biden administration delegation to the inauguration of the new Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama. She left on January fourth and returned on the eighth of January. She departed when the National Weather Service was intensifying warnings about an upcoming windstorm and came back more than 24 hours after the fires had ignited. Mayor Bass was supposedly making phone calls back to L.A. for the majority of the party.
A plethora of celebrities and well known organizations have donated to help restore what the fires took.
Focusing on organizations, the NFL is pitching in $5 million to wildfire relief efforts. Paramount and Kroger will contribute $1 million. Walmart will supply $1.5 million worth of cash, food, water, and other essential goods. Airbnb wants to work to provide free, temporary housing to those who were displaced in the chaos. Verizon is waiving call, text, and data charges for customers in hard hit areas. They also plan to donate $500,000 to the American Red Cross Association and the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation. Apple will be partaking in these mass amounts of donations, along with Amazon, who will be giving $10 million to local and national disaster response groups. Youtube and Google have assured $15 million to emergency networks too.
Focusing on celebrities, Kylie Jenner will be donating, along with Paris Hilton, whose home burned down in the Palisades fire. She has raised $800,000 in support so far. She has also established a GoFundMe that will provide immediate cash assistance to 150 Altadena families in need. Meta founder and the third richest person in the world, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla offered $2 million to organizations providing ground relief to the damage. In addition to this, the Meta company has also passed along $2 million to specific organizations. England’s Prince Harry and his American wife Megan Markle, who have been viewed conversing with firefighters tackling the Eaton fire, have been making monetary donations to relief efforts. Actor Leonardo Dicaprio has bestowed $1 million to support the urgent needs in California. Beyonce’s BeyGOOD Foundation even said that it would donate $1 million to their community. A variety of rock bands, such as Metallica, have promised donations to the relief efforts as well.
There are still a lot of other people and groups who have donated to the cause.
Although a lot of negativity came from this natural disaster, it is always important to attempt to maintain a positive mindset.
“I think that California is doing as much as they can,” said junior Miles Turner. “The winds are making it difficult. The people and the government could try to have better connections though.”
The Los Angeles community has been persevering through this challenging time with great grit and determination.
As the fires are now coming to a close, the city’s main goal is going to be to rebuild what they lost.
