Inferno in the Heart of Los Angeles: The Who, What, and Why of California’s Current Fire Problem

Los Angeles has long served as the template for most of the world’s vision of living in California. Sunbathed beaches host bronze-tanned bodybuilders and bleached blonde surfers. Carnival atmospheres glow festively at night on the crowded boardwalks. Endless freeways stretch across the cityscape and wind through the surrounding hills, filled with convertible cars driving with tops down through the cool coastal air. Fame and fortune are never far away since America’s film, music, and fashion industries thrive beneath the triumphant “Hollywood” sign. At least, that is one picture of “City of Angels” that might hold true on a normal day. The early weeks of January have instead brought a much more distressing picture.

2025 had barely arrived before the glitz and glamor of LA were consumed by choking smoke and bellowing flames from several wildfires erupting in the heart of the suburbs. On January 7, the Pacific Palisades fire was first sparked and quickly burned wildly out of control. 3,000 acres were scorched within the day, and 30,000 people were evacuated. The Hurst fire, meanwhile, started the same day just to the north in the San Fernando Valley and quickly engulfed 500 acres. As if this were not bad enough, Eaton Canyon, located to the east, also found itself awash with flames and over 1,000 acres burned.

Five more fires erupted in the following days in Archer, Kenneth, Lidia, Sunset, and Woodley. At the time this was written, 40,168 acres had burned, and 24 deaths had been confirmed. Around 153,000 people have been evacuated, with at least 166,000 anxiously waiting under “evacuation warning.”

As dire as the situation seems, there is reason to hope. These five subsequent fires have been extinguished as of January 13, and the Hurst fire is reportedly soon to follow. Resources can now be fully directed to the Palisades and Eaton fires, both of which are still raging. All this is because, amid the chaos, many dedicated individuals have been running toward the disaster instead of away from it.

Firefighters Face an Uphill Battle:

The embattled “Thin Red Line” of firefighters continues to struggle to contain the infernos, but they are as relentless as the flames. LA County’s 28 fire departments have had their hands full fighting these fires, facing uphill challenges like intensely windy weather and infrastructural limitations. Some areas currently burning have limited road access, making civilian evacuation the top priority in a difficult cart-before-the-horse dilemma.

There is also the matter of waterlines losing pressure or water, resulting from an unprecedented strain on the city’s resources. Although Governor Gavin Newsome has commissioned an investigation into at least one reservoir that seemingly ran dry far too quickly, the fact remains that these fire departments have been equipped to handle isolated urban blazes. Sadly, the nearby Pacific Ocean does not offer any assistance either since salt water causes numerous complications with the environment and the firefighting equipment. These urban responders now find themselves fighting burning levels more often seen in the wildfires threatening rural areas or undeveloped wilderness. One might liken them to a small, local police force attempting to repel a hostile military invasion.

Fortunately, LA’s exhausted fire departments do not stand alone. Other California counties have responded to LA’s distress call with 7,500 personnel deployed to assist the embattled Los Angeles County. Neighboring American states such as Washington, Oregon, Utah, New Mexico, and Idaho have also dispatched engines and personnel to join the effort. Furthermore, the response to LA’s distress call recently became an international effort as Mexico quickly committed its resources and firefighters to the cause. Mexican firefighters arrived in California to American cheers on Saturday, January 11. This aid cannot come too soon for the 8 million Los Angelinos who live in the current danger zone. So far, 6,722 structures have already burned down, and over 11,000 remain threatened in the 38,629 acres still ablaze.

Coping with the Crises

Many are struggling with the loss of their homes. Others grieve the loss of their businesses or perhaps their favorite restaurants or coffee shops. Still, others have missed work due to concerns over the winds or because their workplace burned down.

Kellen McGuire, a California state employee and recording artist with the band “Tales from the Grid,” reflects grimly on the situation. “I’ve lived in California my whole life. I have lived in the Los Angeles area for the majority of my life. . . One thing I have learned living here in California is you pay a premium for good weather and another premium for disasters.” McGuire’s home has avoided danger so far, but glowing embers fill the air outside his apartment window. “[These fires] have devastated me emotionally,” he continues, “I am proud of my city, my state, and proud of the people who came before me who lived here to make it the place it is today. To see my city burn down like it is now is heartbreaking.”

Film worker and longtime LA resident Allison Veilleux described her current emotional state simply as “feeling drained and on edge” from “disbelief and awe of the devastation that’s taken place so close to where I work and live. . . I was about 6 miles from the Sunset Fire, 15 miles from Altadena, and 30 miles from Pacific Palisades,” Veilleux recalls. “For me, the Sunset fire was the scariest as it was not only the closest to me but also started out of nowhere and spread quickly.  And once people started to evacuate that area, the traffic became worrisome, so I started packing a bag and gathering my things to leave as well.  However, while I was waiting for traffic to die down, the wind gusts stopped, and the fire was contained.”

And that wasn’t the end of her experience. “I also work at the Fox lot in Century City. The day the fire started, it looked like it was happening right behind the studio. I did not see any flames, but the smoke took up the entire sky behind the lot, and the next day, the smoke in the sky looked like storm clouds all throughout the city.” Veilleux went on to say, “Although I’m no longer concerned the fire will affect my area, it’s hard to see what’s happened to so many of my neighbors, co-workers, and friends, watching everything unfold . I know of several people who have lost homes, but luckily, they are all safe.”

Josh Burns, an actor and non-profit employee, was fortunate to be between residences when the fires began but was still displaced from where he was staying. “We were not under mandatory evacuation up here in La Crescenta but we still evacuated in the early hours of Wednesday morning because the winds up here were reaching 90 and 100 mph,” Burns explained. “Driving down the 210 freeway on our way to South Pasadena, we passed right by JPL and Altadena, and as we passed the Lincoln Avenue exit, even after the sun had risen, it was literally black as night for about a mile on the freeway. That’s how heavy the smoke was. It was like driving through hell. The flames were much more visible at night, but they covered so much of the mountain that you could still see flames during the day.”

This is far from Burns first fire, as he has spent nearly half his life in Los Angeles. “I have been in L.A. for a little over 25 years, and this is the closest any wildfire has ever come to where I personally am living at the time,” Burns reflects. “I have some friends in Wrightwood who were evacuated just a year or so ago for a major wildfire and thought they might lose their house, but thank God they did not. The only upside I think I’ve ever seen to an out-of-control wildfire is that the aftermath it leaves is something that won’t burn for years to come, so it’s very difficult for lightning to strike twice in the same place if that makes sense. But that’s a very slight upside in the midst of Armageddon.”

As of January 13, many of the fires have been contained, Burns explained. Areas emblazoned only days ago now show no signs of flames or smoke, but the emotional damage has been done. “It is extremely stressful to not know from minute to minute and hour to hour if we’re staying or going or if the power will stay on,” Burns explained. “I’m trying to get work done, but all my work is on my computer, and I have to unplug it if there’s a danger of power going out. So it’s just a very tenuous feeling of not knowing if we’re staying or going right now. As of this moment, it’s only the winds that we need to worry about, and I’m just praying no more fires break out because of the surge in wind activity tonight.”

Then, of course, one of the biggest questions on the minds of many others is, “How did it come to this?”

California Wildfires: A Perfect Storm of Natural and Human Factors

California’s ecosystem has long been shaped by wildfires, which are natural occurrences in the region. Therefore, the state is no stranger to fire problems. However, the hazards have only worsened over the years. In 2021, as Governor Newsom extended emergency orders to 41 counties, the New York Times examined California’s perilous situation from a safe distance across the country. The Times noted that California faced a fourfold threat from a combination of anthropogenic and shifting climate factors.

Combustible Climate Change: California’s natural climate has become inherently susceptible to wildfires, with its vegetation drying out during long, rainless summers. Since 1841, the state has experienced periodic droughts that only seem to grow longer, often exceeding the periods of relief in between. The ever-more drastic switching back and forth between dry and wet periods in the region has also created a sense of environmental “whiplash,” which only exacerbates the problem.

More recent reports from the BBC cite the region’s exceptionally lengthy dry spell, with downtown Los Angeles receiving just 0.16 inches (0.4 cm) of rain since October 2024. Climate change has only intensified this vulnerability. For the last quarter century, the state has been experiencing a “Mega Drought.” Nearly all of the state’s largest fires have occurred since 2000, a reflection of how climate change is exacerbating natural fire risks.

Human Activity: Most wildfires are sparked by human events including, but not limited to, downed power lines, vehicle accidents, and general carelessness in dry conditions. The growing trend of building homes in the urban-wildland interface also increases the potential for destruction. Additionally, human-induced climate change contributes to drier conditions. When one considers the current sites of the most problematic fires (the Palisades and Eaton), one finds a residential scene ripe for combustion.

Human expansion into fire-prone areas, known as the wildland-urban interface, further complicates the situation. Calls have gone out for greater awareness of wildfire risks among communities in the West, where natural vegetation is increasingly being replaced by commercial and residential development. Experts have also advocated for measures such as controlled burns, vegetation management, and careful urban planning to mitigate fire risks. Still, these tactics come with their own sets of complications.

Decades of Fire Suppression: Sometimes, the road to disaster is paved with good intentions. Over the past century, certain efforts to suppress wildfires have ironically made fires worse by allowing vegetation to accumulate unchecked. These densely packed fuels now intensify modern fires. Controlled burns, increasingly used by the U.S. Forest Service, aim to mitigate this buildup, but this proves trickier in residential areas where such government agencies have limited jurisdiction.

The Santa Ana Winds: Last but not least is the wind factor. Every Autumn, the Santa Ana winds carry dry air from East to West from America’s Great Basin into Southern California. These gusts can fan flames and spread embers at alarming speeds. In addition to the aforementioned climate change, which has already made dry areas even drier over time, one finds a perfect recipe for fires. With the worst conditions since the 1962-1963 fire season, these last few days have shown it was a disaster waiting to happen.

The winds this season have proved especially devastating. Over these last few days, the fires ravaging California’s largest population have been compounded by the powerful gusts of the Santa Ana winds sweeping through Southern California’s mountains. The winds frequently reach 60 to 80 mph (95-130 km/h), with occasional bursts as high as 100 mph (160 km/h). The National Weather Service also notes that the dry Santa Ana winds are holding significantly lower humidity than usual this year, parching vegetation and turning it into tinder. Therefore, once a fire starts, these winds quickly puff it into an uncontrollable inferno within minutes. While the strongest winds have subsided, forecasters warn that another burst may come at any time.

A recent report from Time Magazine echoes this sentiment, highlighting that the fires are occurring outside of Southern California’s traditional wildfire season, which typically runs from May to October. The warmer-than-average temperatures and abnormally dry conditions fueled this year’s fires, extending the current fire season to significantly overlap with the Santa Ana wind season, thus heightening the risk.

Cause, Blame, and Going Forward

The exact cause of any of these particular fires remains unknown. Even so, some, including American TV actor Henry Winkler, suspect that at least one or two of these fires may have been the result of Arson. A group of individuals (including actor Brian J White) even made a citizen’s arrest of a man who was acting suspiciously near their neighborhood. So far, only this one person has been held in suspicion but not charged due to a lack of probable cause.

Political partisanship has also not been slowed by the national tragedy as President-Elect Donald Trump blames California’s left-leaning government, specifically Governor Newsome, for mismanaging the state water supply. Others contend, however, that this tragedy was unprecedented and no municipal water system is prepared to handle such an event, even in a place like LA.

Some residents, like Veilleux, feel that the authorities have “done everything they can to the best of their ability. They had everything working against them, between the strong winds and issues of getting water, but they have still fought tirelessly to keep everyone they can safe and out of harm’s way . . . I wish the politicians had waited to throw each under the bus until after the urgency of getting the fires under control and people safe was taken care of first.”

Burns seems to share Veilleux’s perspective when he states, “The thousands of firefighters who have been working against these blazes for almost a week straight are absolute superheroes as far as I’m concerned. And obviously, I’m not alone there by any stretch. I don’t really know about politicians’ responses or anything like that, and I kind of don’t care. I just deeply love the people who have been committed to fighting the fires and helping everyone affected.” Burns went on to say that “My dear friend Shelley’s nephew Gavin has been fighting the fires since last Tuesday, and the guy is my hero.”

McGuire, on the other hand, is less forgiving towards LA Mayor Karren Bass, and her steep cuts to the city’s Fire Department budget earlier in the year despite warnings from experts. “We all knew this very rare and extraordinary Santa Ana wind event was coming,” McGuire growls. “We all knew it could cause an accidental fire to get out of control. Everyone knew not to do anything that could spark a wildfire. And yet, the fire came. In the last fiscal year, Bass and the City Council of Los Angeles cut $17,000,000 from the LAFD budget. And now, when we have a major fire catastrophe, the LAFD was unprepared, understaffed, and had inadequate resources to deal with the crisis.”

These conversations will surely continue, and more will become clear as the smoke subsides. Regardless, California wildfires are likely to become more frequent and destructive in the future. One thing is plain: Only proactive strategies and sustainable development can help California communities coexist with this reality.