Like me, the last few weeks have been upsetting for many living in California. The human cost of LA flames is incomprehensible. The fires began on January 7th, the first week of school after the holidays. Many students have had their lives turned upside down rather than eagerly awaiting the second half of their academic year. So many houses and schools have been destroyed. While California is not unusual for natural disasters, the sheer scope of urban buildings destroyed by the Los Angeles fires makes them catastrophic.
It follows naturally to wonder - what started these fires? And why or how did they disseminate so rapidly? Numerous ideas abound on the origin of these flames. Finding the cause of the fire would take months of rigorous investigation. But, in response to the second point, we can identify three factors that contributed to the rapid spread of the fire: ferocious Santa Ana winds, an abundance of dry brush, and the construction of urban structures.
The Santa Ana winds are a common occurrence in the Los Angeles area. The months of December and January are the ones that are most likely to experience these powerful and dry winds. Strong winds can rapidly spread the fire if it breaks out. How? The embers are propelled upwards in the air by the gusts of wind with great force. The embers can travel for miles. Eventually, these soaring embers will land somewhere. Which leads us to the dry brush.
Brush growth is the term used to describe the high growth of wild shrubs and bushes due to the two winters of intense rainfall that the Los Angeles region experienced. These two wet winters were followed by an extremely dry season. Due to a lack of precipitation, this brush had dried out and served as an ideal fuel for the fire.
An abundance of urban structures, including residential and office buildings, could be found in the vicinity of the dry brushes. Consequently, there were also more overhead electric wires to support the energy needs of these urban structures.
In other words, when the Santa Ana winds pushed these embers for miles, they finally landed on dry vegetation, urban structures, and electric wires, all of which contributed to the fire by providing additional "fuel" for it. The severity of the winds caused embers to be blown over long distances. These embers then landed on buildings and brushes, causing other fires, which caused more embers to be blown by the winds. In short, it created a dreadful, uncontrolled fire spiral.
Is there anything that could have been done?
References:
NOAA’s National Weather Service. (n.d.). Mountain and valley winds. https://www.weather.gov/safety/wind-mountain-valley
Laskowski, A. (2025, January 16). How and Why the LA Wildfires Grew So Fast—and Lessons for the Future. Boston University. https://www.bu.edu/articles/2025/how-and-why-the-la-wildfires-grew-so-fast/
When houses are fuel: Why firefighting was no match for a California disaster decades in the making. (2025, January 19). NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/wildfires/california-fires-houses-are-fuel-why-firefighters-couldnt-control-rcna187977
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