Brush fires, amplified by extreme winds running up to 80 MPH, has given rise to a blazing landscape of wildfires in Los Angeles. There are 3 MAJOR fires accounted for, so far. The Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire and the Hurst Fire. The biggest of them all (Palisades Fire) has spread a total of 23,713 acres and is only 11% contained, marking it the worst sight the Pacific Palisades has ever seen. Close to 200,000 people are under evacuation notice, and this number continues to grow. Although the hurricane-force winds have calmed for the moment, the threat of rising winds still looms over the city of Los Angeles.
Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass
California Governor Gavin Newsom has already taken steps towards addressing the drastic situation. He has signed an executive order to speed up the rebuilding process of homes, stating that “[w]hen the fires are extinguished, victims who have lost their homes and businesses must be able to rebuild quickly and without roadblocks.” Under this order, certain permit and review requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) have been suspended in order to streamline the recovery process. Furthermore, he doubled the California National Guard deployment in LA to 1680 members in order to bolster support for the affected citizens.
On the other hand, Mayor of LA, Karen Bass faces intense scrutiny for being out of the country on a diplomatic excursion when the fires began, as well as cutting the firefighter budget by 17.5 million dollars months beforehand. Furthermore, water shortages have also placed LA officials under even more criticism for a lack of preparation. Public figures have come out and expressed their disapproval. Elon Musk, for example, called Bass “utterly incompetent” on X, leading a conservative hammering on her. However, the danger of living in the Pacific Palisades was expressed for years before by experts, and Bass also emphasized that the budget was boosted later on. Whether or not Bass’s decisions had a significant impact on the current situation, the reality is that we still face the daunting task of containing the fires, alleviating homelessness and reconstructing the lost environment.
Looking Forward
The process of rebuilding both the physical landscape and the mental culture of the affected people will take time. The fires are far from extinguished, and the death toll will be likely to keep increasing as time continues to tick away. Amidst all the chaos, this event also begs a larger question at hand. Is this a sign of what is to come, as the issue of climate change continues to be pushed aside? How will this affect Trump’s policies as he enters office, if anything? As always, the future is filled with scary and uncertain possibilities, and it is key that we stay united and hopeful as fear continues to burn through our country.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/08/us/california-fire-palisades-evacuation.html
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/10/us/fires-los-angeles-california
https://abcnews.go.com/US/live-updates/california-fires-live-updates-santa-ana-winds-rage/? id=117541907
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/01/10/karen-bass-criticism-los-angeles-fires/77584894007/
11 comments:
I want to tack on some additional information related to the magnitude of damages caused by the L.A. fires. They are estimated to have caused ~$20 billion dollars in damages and is a number only expected to increase with the spread of the fire (this statistic was thrown out over the weekend, so it's probably higher now). That equates to THOUSANDS of families, displaced from their homes, struggling to live by without a home--without a shelter under their heads. Unfortunately, no amount of time or money will truly restore what was and will be lost in the fires.
Regarding L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, I'm curious as to why she hammered down the budget of the fire department months before--was the money needed elsewhere or was it simply a way to cut down on expenses? All this shame on Bass from political figures won't do much but create even more hate and conflict amid a problem that requires action, not argument.
I think this is definitely a hint to what’s to come in our upcoming generation. Climate change is going to continue to get worse because we didn’t take necessary measures to slow it down decades ago. However, there is also a large social issue taking place. People saying that people living in California deserve it for political reasons or that it’s “not that big of a deal” because everyone in LA is rich is far from the truth. While some people can rebuild and restart, there is no denying that people with a death in the family, people who suffered from burns and poor air quality and people who lost valuables and worth are at risk. As it relates to Karen Bass and the fire department cuts, obviously every penny counts and those dollars could’ve meant saving a couple more houses. But really the 17 million dollars was only 2.7% of the total fire department budget. To claim that 2.7% would’ve made that much of a difference to stop a fire of this magnitude is insane.
The wildfires in Los Angeles are a reminder of how fragile our environment is. While it is encouraging that Governor Newsom is taking action to support recovery efforts, there appears to have been countless systemic issues. From cutting the funding of firefighters to water shortages, these issues reveal flaws in how we prepare for natural disasters. Mayor Bass’s decision to cut funding may have just been during a bad time. I find that it may be better to find ways to solve the crisis rather than criticize the mayor’s actions. It seems that Mayor Bass may have been committing more resources to foster new partnerships that could benefit the city long-term. Ultimately, the intensity of this event should bring awareness to long-term solutions rather than reactive measures. This raises questions about leadership and what can be done to prevent tragedies like this from occurring again.
The tragic wildfires in Los Angeles are a serious reminder of how urgent climate change has become. Fires like the Palisades blaze, spreading over 23,000 acres, are becoming more intense and frequent due to rising temperatures and dry conditions. It’s super heartbreaking to see nearly 200,000 people forced from their homes, with lives and landscapes destroyed. What makes it worse is the lack of urgency from some leaders—former President Trump, set to take office again, who has downplayed the crisis in the past. Even now, he is dismissing it by saying, “it’ll cool down.” If we don’t take climate change seriously, disasters like this will only become more common.
I think another important aspect of the financial and economic impact this will make is in the insurance sector. The way insurance companies establish prices is by evaluating the risk, and in riskier areas, they charge higher premiums. However, they are limited by being forced to get approval for their costs from the California Department of Insurance. Because California is know for its massive wildfires, insurance is already very high. Now, insurance companies are leaving California because they can no longer make money. This will drive premiums even further up, and some people might not even be able to find a company that will insure them. This will result in people turning to high risk plans such as the FAIR plan, which can often cost several times more. The LA fires are going to have a resounding effect on insurance companies and cost throughout California, and are going to cost homeowners a lot of money.
There is also likely to be a massive insurance crisis, as it's simply impossible for insurance companies to pay out anywhere between 20 and 50 billion dollars in insurance in any sort of a timely matter.
The wildfire is already a frightening and sad event, but the fact that people are taking advantage of this fire is infuriating. People have been arrested for impersonating as a firefighter, police, and setting fires on objects on their own. Fortunately, the fires that have been set by the people seem to be taken care of thanks to the firefighters nearby at service. However, even with all of the firefighters working on it, the percentage contained hasn’t gone over 50%. I know it used to be that the fire was spreading faster than the speed of containment, so there have been some improvements, but I’m just afraid that the fire would keep growing as time goes on (with the unpredictable weather on top of it).
The wild fires in LA are extremely tragic and scary events that have exposed just how much climate change is effecting us. While it is easy to criticize someone for cutting down the firefighting budget as soon as their is a wildfire, Bass just like us had no idea just how severe these fires would get. I think that the underlying problem is not our firefighting ability, it is the climate change that we are facing it seems like every year now the fires in California, and the Hurricanes in the east are getting worse and worse. While our response to these disasters could be better, the only aproach to truly solve these problems is to stop climate change. The media is focusing on the politics of the even when really we should be looking at this event as a signal for future possibly more drastic and dangerous events.
It's really disheartening that many of those affected by the fires have been gutted and left in the dust by most private insurance companies. As I am writing this, the fires are still ablaze. In our community, I have seen efforts from San Mateo Fire Department to send help their way, as well as in local stores see donations for fire relief funds. I have seen a lot of unification in these past few weeks about this tragedy----It is important to stay united in these tough times.
The fires that have been spreading through Southern California are absolutely devastating as people’s homes are burnt into ashes, leaving them completely displaced. I think that in addition to the lack of preparation and funding for these families, the source of the issue at hand is climate change. Global warming has been an ongoing issue, with 2024 being the hottest year on record and temperatures continuing to climb with some action but not enough to make a real dent in the issue. Now with Trump as president, the future is looking less and less bright. He’s already taken action to withdraw the U.S from the Paris Agreement and instead focus his attention on expanding the coal and oil companies. Drilling for natural resources is a huge contributor to climate change and the U.S is not even short on fuel so this really feels unnecessary and inconsiderate. Clearly Trump yet again has his own best interest in heart to profit the economy while ignoring the clear signs of serious environmental issues presented in the ongoing wildfires.
There has been so much funding raised in light of the SOCAL fires, it helps provide hope in times where people have lost everything. However, I have two major concerns with this funding. For one, where is all the money going? Surely there is a lot, but is it enough to cover everything and everyone that lost their homes to the fires? How is the priority for spending the money raised decided, and what about the animals and pets that suffered from the fires as well? I also wonder how Trump's presidency will affect the fires and whether the funding and support will increase, remain the same, or even unfortunately decrease. It seems as he has not yet developed a plan or voiced reassurance to the LA fire victims so I am left curious about what his priorities are as he has just taken office.
This is such a devastating reality that these people have to go through. I can't imagine something like a childhood home, or your small business being taken from you so abruptly. It makes me wonder how long the rebuilding efforts are going to take although I know there's no definite answer. The total number of acres that burned is so mind-boggling to me. The caliber of devastating destruction that occurred so suddenly really begs the question of what the future will look like. Given global warming and changing environmental conditions this sort of thing seems all the more common nowadays and makes me wonder, how long until politicians opposed to the idea of climate change finally realize its true effects and caliber?
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