California wildfires scorch over 38,000 acres

By Victoria Hansen, HansenV@Findlay.edu

After an extended drought season, California started the new year with what is projected to be the costliest wildfire in US history. 

The first wildfire erupted on Jan. 7, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who tracks wildfires alongside other weather occurrences in the United States such as tornadoes, hurricanes and snowstorms. As of Jan. 14, 88,000 people are currently under evacuation orders in Los Angeles, with the possibility of another 84,000 being evacuated as the fire spreads. 

The California wildfires consist of five wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. Three of the fires are in Los Angeles County and started on Jan. 7, with the largest being the Palisade Fire in the Pacific Palisades which has burned 23,713 acres and is 22 percent contained as of Jan. 16. The Eaton fire has burnt 14,117 acres in Pasadena and Altadena and is currently 55 percent contained. The final Los Angeles County fire, the Hurst Fire in the Sylmar neighborhood of Los Angeles has burnt 799 acres of the neighborhood but is 98 percent contained as of Jan. 16. 

Windy conditions in California caused the fire to spread to two more counties, with the Auto Fire starting in Ventura County on Jan. 13, and the Little Mountain Fire starting on Jan. 15 in San Bernardino. The Auto Fire has burnt 61 acres at 85 percent containment and the Little Mountain has burned 34 acres and is uncontained. 

The National Weather Service, part of NOAA has sent out a press release saying, “Good news: We are expecting a much-needed break from the fire weather concerns to close this week. Bad News: Next week is a concern. While confident that we will NOT see a repeat of last week, dangerous fire weather conditions are expected.” 

The NWS states on its website that for conditions to be classified as fire weather, it needs a relative humidity of 15 percent or less with sustained surface winds of 25 mile per hour or more, and/or widely scattered dry thunderstorms. A dry thunderstorm is a thunderstorm with less than 0.10 inches of rain. Other contributing factors to fire weather can be scattered lightning after a long dry period, cold passages that would cause strong gusts of wind, and any other combination of weather and fuel that could cause heightened risk of wildfires. 

Even as evacuation orders end for Los Angeles residents, their problems are not over.  

“We are having our house professionally cleaned and then hiring an industrial hygienist to assess any toxins that are in the home still so that we can make sure it’s safe for us to move back in,” said Los Angeles resident Zoe Khan.  

Debris removal teams have been mobilized to start clearing out the devastation, according to the Governor Gavin Newsom’s Office. Despite a quick reaction time to cleanup, many Los Angeles residents are being cast into an already overwhelmed housing market as residents search for place to live during rebuilding efforts.