Wildfires are not new to southern California.
In fact, there were 8,024 fires last year in California alone.
However, the raging infernos across Los Angeles since Jan. 7 have shed new light on the state of wildfires: they are becoming increasingly uncontrollable and dangerous, spreading into the densely packed suburbs and cities.
Much of the fire prevention in place during the disasters was not equipped to combat the concentrated volume of fires.
The storage tanks in the Highlands could not support the water demand required as the fires raced from neighborhood to neighborhood, leaving firefighters with hoses that could not pump water to combat the fires.
This combined with the unprecedented Santa Ana winds prevented aerial support that could gather water from the bay.
Catalyzed by the effects of increased fossil fuels in the atmosphere, fires raged aggressively across the Los Angeles suburbs for weeks.
Climate change has been a pressing issue for years and now the world is feeling the effects of it in real time.
The past two years have been characterized by extreme heat and rain.
Last summer was one of the hottest summers on record, passing the 1.5 degree Celsius benchmark, the point that global temperature should not exceed relative to preindustrial levels.
Preceding this period of high temperature, rainy winters led to a boom in brush growth as a result of increased evaporation from an overheating ocean.
The short-lived life of these plants, which succumbed to the scorching heat, resulted in an excess of dry, dead, and most importantly, flammable material left behind.
Scientists call this cycle a boom and bust cycle, which, combined with California’s fiery disposition, created a dangerous environment that was bound to be set off at any given moment.
The Palisades fire is only the first in a future of potentially more devastating disasters.
As the climate clock continues to tick away, the world must question many of the practices that we consider normal.
Pollution and overconsumption which leads to emissions and waste continue to purge the world.
If nothing changes, soon, there will not be a planet Earth for future generations to live on, or possibly even us.
