Recently, wildfires have been ravaging through parts of Los Angeles, California, causing extensive property damage, injuries to civilians, and evacuations. The wildfires left people with many questions, such as how such a disastrous event could’ve started, the damage caused by the fire, and what could happen in the future to contain it fully.
Due to upcoming heavy winds and arid conditions, LA issued warnings days before the fires began. The fires officially started on January 7th, 2025, with people reporting the Palisades fire around 10 AM. One hour later, the evacuation warnings began, with thousands of people fleeing the area due to the increasingly terrible conditions caused by the fire. The Palisades fire wasn’t the only one, however. At around 6 PM, the Eaton fire began in Altadena, causing the fire department to call on all of its firefighters to report for duty.
By the next day, the two fires had spread to more than 4,000 acres, requiring more than 1,000 firefighters to be deployed to fight them. However, the fires kept growing due to several reasons, such as the heavy wind, budget cuts for firefighters, and big corporations such as Nestle stealing water from LA. All these elements made their efforts futile. As the day advanced, more fires, such as the Lidia and Sunset fire, prompted more evacuations. Firefighter Shane Lawlor states, “In terms of the size of the fire, I haven’t seen anything bigger in my career. I don’t think very many people have. And in terms of the scope of the damage, it has been just utterly devastating.”
Although the firefighters made progress in containing the fires, some were still spreading and causing damage. The Palisades and Eaton fires combined had spread to 37,000 acres and killed 24 people by January 12th, causing them to be one of the deadliest wildfires in LA history. Due to these numbers, over 15,000 firefighters were deployed to fight them, and their dedication made a difference since the fires slowly began to die down as the days passed.
As of January 29th, 2025, the fires have killed 28 people and caused more than 1,400 structures to be destroyed. Although the fires have been mostly contained, that doesn’t mean new threats aren’t still emerging. One example is the Hughes fire, which has caused another wave of evacuations and damage, causing 47th President Donald Trump to step in and investigate the issue. People can only hope that the fires will end soon and that the victims will recover.
