Early January of 2025 massive swathes of land in Los Angeles County, California are engulfed in a raging inferno. With over 100 billion dollars in damages and tens of thousands of people evacuated or without a home, the wildfires that are ongoing in California are among the worst wildfires in our nation’s history. Not only did the conditions of nature provide an excellent environment for such catastrophic weather, but a series of decisions made by politicians have caused this fire to be as controversial as it is devastating.
Fires Engulf Los Angeles
On Tuesday, January 7, 2025, merely a week into the new year, a series of wildfires started around various parts of Los Angeles County in Southern California. The most significant fires were the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire, which ignited in the Pacific Palisades areas and Altadena and Pasadena areas, respectively. However, they are not the only fires.
During the week of January 5th, a combination of extremely powerful Santa Ana winds and severe drought conditions provided the ideal environment for absolute devastation. Dry vegetation provided excellent fuel for the flames, while the severely strong winds allowed the flames’ embers to spread rapidly all over the area.
Since then, an endless orange sky and terrible smoke have covered Los Angeles County and the city. Furthermore, with an ongoing severe drought, wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour, and controversial decisions made by Californian politicians, firefighters of LA County are left with little water to combat these devastating fires; hence, almost a week after the first fire was reported, a mere 11% of the Palisades fire and 27% of the Eaton Fire been contained (according to Business Insider and the Sun as of January 12, 2025). According to ABC, at least 25 people have lost their lives to the devastating fire.
As of the writing of this article, well over 12,000 structures and 40,000 acres of land have been destroyed, hundreds of neighborhoods are nothing but ashes, and well over 150,000 residents have evacuated the area. Videos on social media reveal that the crime of the county doesn’t stop with such a devastating natural disaster, many houses have been looted as criminals take the chance to exploit the evacuation for their own inhumane and disgusting profit.
Furthermore, the fires burnt down the homes of many celebrities such as Mel Gibson, Eugene Levy, Paris Hilton, Miles Teller, Mandy Moore, and the President’s son, Hunter Biden, among others. However, it should not go without mentioning that these people are among the tens of thousands of innocent Americans who have lost their homes and sometimes even everything they own to these fires.
An additional 166,000 people are currently on alert as the fires continue to spread. According to Barron’s Magazine, this fire could be the “costliest natural disaster in all of U.S. history,” as estimates suggest that the damages could be between 135 to 150 billion dollars.
Controversies and Theories Surrounding the Fires
While this devastating and tragic fire continues to burn down the neighborhoods of thousands of Americans, controversy and theories continue to spread all over social media, with much of it directed toward the politicians of California and their decision-making.
First and foremost, many online have speculated that a series of arsonists actually started the fire; if you hear this, just know that although it’s possible, there is currently no evidence to support this claim.
However, many have also claimed that this is due to climate change. Although climate change does have a massive role in the easy spread of this wildfire, it is not the sole cause that needs to be addressed.
The controversy starts with the politicians. For the last 5 years, the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, ignored the warnings of other politicians to send water to the area during the drought in favor of making efforts to conserve a locally endangered species of salmon in California’s rivers. Additionally, when President Donald Trump attempted to pass a bill that would divert water from Northern California to the severely dry parts of Southern California (which include Los Angeles), Governor Gavin Newsom fought back, as Newsom claimed it would harm the endangered fish species.
Furthermore, the Mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, took a vacation to Ghana after the fire had already started–which sparked major controversy online. This came after Bass approved the reduction of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s funding by 17 million dollars in 2024, which is comparatively 65% of the $827 million budget that Mayor Karen Bass approved in October 2024 to combat homelessness.
With this massive wildfire, there’s going to be even more Americans without a home, as there is already a severe housing shortage in Los Angeles. With the budget cuts to the Fire Department leading to a decrease in employees and a water shortage causing many fire hydrants to simply be dry of water, all mixed with the dry conditions and wind, the fire continues to spread. A Sky News reporter questioned Mayor Bass asking, “Do you owe the citizens an apology for being absent while their homes were burning? Do you regret cutting the fire department’s budget by millions of dollars, Madame Mayor,” and Mayor Bass stood there in silence with no answer to those hard-hitting questions.
Thousands of Californian residents are now left without insurance coverage and must take the burden of losing their homes on top of losing everything they own. Three months ago, several insurance companies canceled or declined to renew policies for homeowners in high-risk areas of Los Angeles due to concerns over wildfire risks. According to Page Six, Tyler Perry called out insurance companies for canceling ‘millions of policies’ ahead of LA fires: ‘pure greed.’ This continues to fuel conspiracy theories online, as the affected areas line up with the idea for the “SmartLA 2028 Initiative.”
Conclusion
Many parts of Los Angeles County are now being compared to that of looking like a devastated warzone or a burning inferno. With over a hundred thousand Americans displaced by the fire and thousands of Americans without a home or financial aid from insurance companies, this wildfire has proven to be one of, if not, the most costly natural disasters in United States history. As of January 12, 2025, the writing of this article, the fires are still underway and continuing to cause mass destruction. Please give your thoughts and prayers to the thousands of innocent Americans who are being devastated by this fire.
Photo courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, NBC News, CalMatters, and the Washington Post
