On January 7, wildfires erupted and quickly spread near the Pacific Palisades, a residential neighborhood outside of Los Angeles, destroying thousands of homes and structures. While California’s wildfire season usually still poses some threats, the scale of this fire, in addition to several other fires around Los Angeles, caused extreme levels of devastation, leading to the death of 29 people and the displacement of 50,000.
A defining trait of this year’s wildfire season is its severity of destruction when compared to previous seasons. Throughout the entire 2024 wildfire season, wildfires destroyed just over 1,700 structures and killed one person, in contrast to the extreme destruction and high death toll within the first month of the 2025 season. This season, extremely dry areas of land exacerbated by drought combined with California’s fierce Santa Ana winds, which can reach sustained speeds of up to 100mph, all contributed to the high risk of wildfires.
Regarding the environmental factors leading to the wildfire development, Upper School Environmental Science Teacher Ronald Smith explains, “This particular year has been exceptionally dry. We’ve seen a lot of extremes of drought conditions in California and elsewhere. So whenever you have conditions that become more extreme, more prolonged periods without rainfall, higher amounts of fuel building up, [this] causes longer wildfires to occur. Sometimes it can actually be somewhat counterintuitive. You may have a patch of precipitation or a rainy stretch, which can bring about a proliferation of growth, but if that’s followed by prolonged drought, you find yourself with an increased fuel load that now dries out, making the area even more primed for fire.”
Beyond the areas actively burning, Los Angeles also issues warnings for potential evacuation and advisories to wear masks in the context of poor air quality for the rest of the area. While the fire department committed to fighting the fires, they have been understaffed, leading it to employ roughly 1,800 incarcerated firefighters to help. In addition to the humanitarian and environmental impacts, the fires have also ignited a significant economic burden. An estimate published by JP Morgan stated that the fires have caused $50 billion of damage, $20 billion of which is insured. However, many residents with homeowners insurance are underinsured for natural disasters like these wildfires, creating a devastating financial burden for many LA homeowners. Specifically, many LA residents dropped their insurance coverage after homeowners insurance prices soared in recent years. Especially with the expensive home prices in Los Angeles—considered one of the priciest cities in the world—this has left many homeowners in a financial panic.
Photo courtesy of npr.org
In addition, the vulnerability of the region has led to a looting crisis in LA. After mass evacuations were issued, many criminals, including people who traveled long distances to reach the LA area, have looted unattended houses in the region. So far, just over 40 people have been charged with looting, many of whom also committed arson to exacerbate the situation.
The California state government has taken many steps toward preventing, mitigating, and recovering from the fires. Before the fires had begun, Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, had ordered fire department personnel to be placed in strategic regions throughout LA. 16,000 personnel and over 2,000 pieces of firefighting equipment were rapidly deployed when the fires began. After LA was declared to be in a state of emergency, Governor Newsom secured 3 additional Fire Management Assistance Grants from the US Government to assist in the funding of firefighting efforts. The LA county tax filing deadline has also been postponed until October 15th, allowing residents some time to regain their financial footing. Governor Newsom further protected the finances of the residence by restricting price hikes on lodging and construction. Lastly, he signed legislation that granted $2.5 billion to response efforts, which while not enough for a recovery, still will provide some aid.
Despite these efforts, many in the California government and fire departments have been accused of mismanagement. In June, LA Mayor Karen Bass approved a city budget plan that reduced funding to the LA Fire Department (LAFD) by $17.4 million, a roughly two percent cut. One month before the fire, LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley warned in a memo that the cuts had “adversely affected the Department’s ability to maintain core operations, such as technology and communication infrastructure, payroll processing, training, fire prevention, and community education.” However, Bass and with other key city figures are skeptical that the budget cuts truly restricted the LAFD’s ability to fight the fires. Bass had actually approved a raise in salary for firefighters that was finalized in November, which increased the department’s operating budget by about seven percent according to LA financial analysts. As a result, the true nature of how the changes in budget affected the LAFD still remains uncertain as it continues to be investigated.
Additionally, a 117 million-gallon reservoir near the Pacific Palisades was closed for maintenance during the time the fires were raging, leading some to question whether this affected LAFD’s ability to fight the fires. The major concern surrounding the reservoir’s status is that it would hinder the LAFD’s ability to fight the fires by not providing enough water pressure. However, Marty Adams, former general manager for LA’s Department of Water and Power, says that the reservoir’s status likely did not make a difference in fighting the fires, according to NBC News.
One particular point of controversy was President Trump’s accusations that the water supply in LA was critically mismanaged. As a result of the high demand for water supply from firefighters, some fire hydrants reportedly ran dry at high altitudes due to insufficient water pressure, where the fires originated. During the initial stages of the fire, Trump repeatedly accused Newsom of refusing to sign a “water restoration declaration” that would redirect millions of gallons of water to affected areas despite Newsom’s claim that there was no such act. Once in office, Trump signed an executive order to release a large amount of water from dams in central California to be redirected, but water experts assert that almost none of this water will actually reach southern California. These actions from Trump have led some to accuse him of politicizing the situation in order to blame the fires on mismanagement in a state with a mostly Democratic government.
However, the crisis in LA also served as a unifying issue for many Americans as videos of the raging fires spread through social media and elicited nationwide responses. Brandon Bin ’26 recounts how he heard of the fires through social media: “I first heard about the fires on TikTok in a video with a raging fire in the background. It was surprising how rapidly the fire had grown before I heard about it.”
In addition to the humanitarian, financial, and environmental devastation the fires have caused, the fires also act as a warning sign for future environmental issues. Smith explains, “We are definitely seeing that the season has expanded in terms of duration of fire…Hands down [this] is a climate change signature, and not just [for] California, but we’re seeing it to the extreme in California…When you get the misfortune [of] unusually dry conditions, climatologically linked, climate change linked, this is what results.”