Intense, dry desert winds have fuelled wildfires in what is now southern California for over 5,000 years, but as the latest conflagration rages across the Los Angeles area, climate change is playing “a major role” in the destruction, reports ABC News.
Multiple wildfires – collectively called the Greater Los Angeles wildfires – are burning through communities in southern California, fuelled by extremely dry conditions and what are known as Santa Ana winds, which can blow at up to 100 mph (161 kph) and thick showers of burning embers across a huge area.
According to NBC News, three smaller fires have been fully contained or extinguished, while two are partially contained. However, the two largest fires – known as the Palisades and Eaton fires – remain completely uncontained. The Palisades fire is already the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history, having spread over nearly 27 square miles (70 square kilometres) and destroyed more than 1,000 structures in one of the city’s most affluent neighbourhoods.
With more than 2,000 structures burned and at least 179,000 residents under evacuation orders, experts believe these fires have the potential to be the costliest disaster in American history as well. Five people have been killed, a figure authorities expect to grow as the largest fires rage on.
[See more: Soaring temperatures drove extreme weather events in 2024]
Wildfires are a natural, necessary part of the ecological cycle, but that cycle relies on a balance that has been badly upset by the growing impacts of climate change, experts say. Warming temperatures, drier conditions and shifts in precipitation all contribute to the increased frequency of large wildfires and acres of land burned in the US.
Recent years have seen parts of California swing wildly from major droughts to extended periods of above-average precipitation, amid intense, record-breaking heat waves that are the result of climate change.
While the influx of rainfall brought by so-called “atmospheric rivers” allows for widespread vegetation growth, the ensuing heatwaves leave it dry – the perfect tinder to fuel large, fast-growing wildfires. According to the World Weather Attribution, climate change-driven conditions contributed in recent years to wildfires in Brazil, Canada and Australia, among other countries. The breadth of the phenomena only adds to the challenge: traditionally, firefighters from Australia help in California, which burns during the Australian off-season, and vice versa. But as fires intensify and fire season lengthens around the world, many understandably worry that crucial outside aid will no longer be forthcoming.
