On January 7, 2025, a series of monstrous fires set the beautiful City of Angels ablaze. The fires killed as many as twenty-nine people, including firefighters called on duty. The merciless nature of these fires will go down in history as the most destructive wildfire in the history of the city.
What do we know?
What started as a brush fire in the LA Palisades, a suburb in Malibu, soon turned into a fire blazing 23,448 acres and damaging 6,800 homes. Later, earning the title: Palisades Fire. After 24 days of being uncontained due to the vengeful Santa Ana winds that plagued the state during the fires, as of January 31, 2025, the Palisades fire was 100% contained.
Another fire by the name of Eaton started in a canyon near Los Angeles mere hours after the first sightings of the Palisades Fire. Like the Palisades, the Eaton Fire was said to be contained as of January 31. The fire department relayed that 10,491 structures, buildings, or homes were destroyed.
When firefighters were out trying to stop the two massive fires, several others broke out—named Lidia, Archer, Woodley, Sunset, Kenneth, Hurst, and Auto. Between all of them, it was reported that over 2,000 homes and buildings were reduced to ash. The biggest problem revolving around both the small and large fires was access to water. When helicopters flew overhead with buckets of water, their paths were blocked by personal drones being flown into the sky to take aerial photographs. To make matters worse, numerous fire hydrants ran dry while this beast of a fire was being tamed, hinting at the state’s vulnerability to disasters of this scale.
Who has it affected?
As of February 10, 2025, 29 people have died, and even more were injured at the hands of these fires—17 deaths from the Eaton Fire and 12 from the Palisades. As more identities are revealed and more processing is done, the casualty number may rise. Together, these numerous fires have affected nearly 200,000 civilians. Those civilians reside in safe zones away from the fires, and some neighborhoods, like downtown LA, have been restricted from returning. Some towns, like Malibu and Santa Monica, however, have recently lifted their evacuation notices.
The cause of these raging fires is still unknown. But due to the history of the state of California, it can be inferred that persistent drought-like conditions and the frequent back-and-forth of heavy rains escalate wildfire risk. Also, the 70 mph offshore winds experienced before and during the fires made containment difficult. Nevertheless, as of January 31, all fires were 100% contained, and efforts have begun to help people rebuild their lives and homes taken away by these fires.
