Introduction
The post that follows was written 4 years ago. That year, wildfires ravaged Australia and the western United States, especially California. On January 7th, 2025, at least 23 catastrophic fires broke out in Los Angeles County. These fires were intense due to low humidity. There were arid conditions. Powerful Santa Ana winds reached hurricane force, exceeding 80-100 miles per hour. Two fires, the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades and the Eaton Fire in Altadena, have caused the most damage. The map shown here is an overview of the significant fires in the Greater Los Angeles area.
The Los Angeles fires are a national calamity and will need years of support from state and federal agencies. The Trump administration begins its term on January 20. It has a history of neglect and incompetence. The Trump administration dealt poorly with national tragedies, including wildfires, hurricanes, and infectious diseases. Trump was responsible for more than 400,00 deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic.
I’m sharing here the analysis of California fires. I wrote it several years ago. It was also published in The Trump Files.
LA city and county were prepared to deal with fires in Los Angeles. They conducted an analysis of fires in California. It should be noted that the state of California is a leader in dealing with the ravage of wildfires. In the Los Angeles fire, the city and country were prepared to deal with fires. The unsustainable ingredients of climate warming, drought, and wind merged to create fires that exceeded expectations. Nonetheless, the various departments responsible for dealing with fires is working as hard as possible, and showing great competence.
Original Post
I’ve wondered what is the main cause of wildfires raging in the West. Are the fires linked to climate change? What role do humans play in starting fires? Are there more fires this year than in the past? Why? Finally, the toll on human and other animal and plant life is immense.
I googled “sources of information wildfires” and found this drone footage of the sky over San Francisco. You don’t have to watch all four minutes. If you scroll ahead, you’ll see the thick mass of smoke in the air above the city. In short, you’ll be shocked.
We lived in the Bay area more than 30 years ago. In those days, I was an avid runner. Not so much, now. I can’t imagine walking outside to start a run. Seeing this across the bay from our home on Bay Farm Island would be astonishing. This place is located in the town of Alameda. Although we don’t live in California now, we have family and many friends who live up and down the coast.
Australia Wildfires
What we see in California, Oregon, and Washington is what we saw last year in Australia. Please take a look at figures 2 and 3 to compare these fires. Our friends in Burra, South Australia, were on alert and ready to evacuate starting in October 2019. The Australian Bushfires burned for nine months until all were extinguished or contained. The bushfires were devastating. Billions of animals were killed. Firefighters and some Australians lost their lives. Thousands of square miles of land were burned. Thousands of buildings, including homes were destroyed. Finally, smoke from the fires circled the globe for months.
The fires in the West are a repeat of the Australian bushfires. Is this what we can expect in the years ahead? In other words, is this the result of a climate crisis.
Timelines of Fires in the West
Wildfires in California are growing more dangerous. The accumulation of wood fuel in forests and higher population is a problem. Also, greater electricity transmission and distribution lines have caused fires, and one of the worst in Paradise. Climate change maybe the major factor. The acreage burned in California for each year since 2000. The biggest wildfires in California history are shown in Figure 5.
Wildfires are playing havoc on the West Coast. Remember that wildfires have been part of the ecology of the West. They have occurred even before the 1800s. Millions of acres burned.
Figure 6 is a process chart of the number fires in the years 2000 – 2019. The light blue horizontal line is the overall average of fires during this period. The tick marks on the vertical lines are the upper and lower control limits. Just so you know, the number of fires, even though the number of fires varies, is within the control limits. We should expect the number of fires in the future to be within these control limits.
Nonetheless, according to Cal Fire, in 2020, there have been 7,718 fires that have burned 3,154,107 acres. Twenty people died. and nearly 5,000 structures have been destroyed. More acreage burned than any other year.
Climate Change
Wildfires are a natural part of the landscapes in California and other Western states. Yet, the fire season starts earlier and lasts longer. This is a climate change trend. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection published a report a year ago. The report made recommendations for fire prevention and mitigation. Climate change will create challenges for wildfires in the future. Dead and dying trees will worsen the situation. Developing new homes near wildlands will also contribute to this perfect storm.
Climate change is a major force that has created a longer fire season. Higher temperatures have reduced the moisture levels in forests. Lower annual snow melt means dryers conditions. The conditions in California continue to cause more severe wildfires.
This year has been one of the worst on record, not only in California, but in Oregon and Washington. Take a look at the most recent year of fires reported in California. Note that the acreage burned for 2020 is outside the upper control limits of acreage burned since 2020. Something significant is happening this year. Before this year, the most acreage burned was nearly 2,000,000 acres. More than 5,000,000 acres have burned so far this year. The fire season is only half over. This is further evidence for climate change acting as a force in California fires.
Climate change is acting as a force-multiplier that will increasingly exacerbate wildland fire issues over the coming decades. The state can expect to experience longer fire seasons. There will be increased frequency and severity of drought. Greater acreage will be burned. Related impacts include widespread tree mortality and bark beetle infestation. Decades of fire suppression have disrupted natural fire cycles and added to the problem.
Community Wildfire Prevention & Mitigation Report, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, 2019.p. 4.
Unfortunately, the Republican party has denied the science of climate change. Trump refuses to accept any part of the science. He continues to claim that forest management (raking the forest floor) is the cause of wildfires. His lies are dangerous.
Conclusion
Wildfires will continue to affect the western part of the United States. Data collected for nearly 40 years shows the effects of climate change, forest management, and human development.
Joan Didion is quoted in Bulwark today. ” haven’t been able to get Joan Didion’s essay about the wind out of my head.
The Santa Ana, which is named for one of the canyons it rushes through, is foehn wind, like the foehn of Austria and Switzerland and the hamsin of Israel. There are a number of persistent malevolent winds, perhaps the best known of which are the mistral of France and the Mediterranean sirocco, but a foehn wind has distinct characteristics: it occurs on the leeward slope of a mountain range and, although the air begins as a cold mass, it is warmed as it comes down the mountain and appears finally as a hot dry wind. Whenever and wherever foehn blows, doctors hear about headaches and nausea and allergies, about “nervousness,” about “depression.”. . . quoted in the Bulwar blog. I recall sbeing in Sicily and experiencing the winds Sirocco from the sea coming across (Gadafi was still in power)…. On a different day I took the bus with a lot of local people and we went to the coastline where the U.S. troops entered Sicity during W W 2 on the way to Italy and Europe. These are permanent memories in my mind. Thank you for the information on climate