The wildfires that brought death and destruction to LA – and what happens next

By Wednesday morning, Los Angeles had already endured a week of wildfires that had wrought destruction and death across the region, and the emergency wasn’t over yet.

At the start of this week, the National Weather Service issued yet another “particularly dangerous situation” warning – its highest level of alert – in response to more high fire-risk conditions in the area, including gusts expected to reach 75mph. The sprawling city was bracing for the worst as the intense winds threatened to stoke the flames once more.

It has been a catastrophe on repeat. Wildfires have laid waste to 60 square miles, killed at least 25 people, destroyed more than 12,000 homes and businesses and displaced tens of thousands of people. Now residents in America’s second-largest city are looking for answers.

What’s causing these fires and where do they fit into the wildfire crisis in the US west? And what’s next for Los Angeles? More on that, and an on-the-ground look at the region amid an unprecedented crisis, after this week’s headlines.

Disaster arrived in Los Angeles with theSanta Anas, the powerful north-east winds that blow from the interior of southern California toward the coast. Long a fact of life in this part of the state, these winds have helped fuel catastrophic wildfires in the past. Last week they were particularly strong.

The hurricane-force gusts barrelled through an area that had not seen substantial rain in months, leading to massive conflagrations. They fanned flames and carried embers far and wide, creating a firestorm that spread so quickly it far exceeded firefighters’ ability to respond – and left widespread damage.

For more than a week, the entire city has been on edge , as the fires have raged. For a few days new firespopped up daily, with some people forced to evacuate multiple times. In the Guardian’s Los Angeles bureau, where we’ve been covering the fires since they began, reporters put on masks and headed out to survey the damage from the Palisades fire, in the affluent oceanside community of the Pacific Palisades, and the Eaton fire (pictured above), in the hillside suburbs of Altadena. At least two Guardian reporters were among the tens of thousands of people displaced. Like many other Angelenos, some were unsettled after false evacuation alerts left the impression danger was imminent.

The normal rhythm of life here has been upended. Schools cancelled classes. Sports fixtures and entertainment events, including the Oscars nominations, were postponed or moved. As evacuees seek shelter and the city tries to find its footing, rightwing media have unsurprisingly seized on the wildfires, spreading misinformation that diversity efforts in the Los Angeles fire department somehow interfered with its ability to respond.

Meanwhile, the fires continue to burn. A massive number of firefighters have responded to the disasters, including inmate crews and teams from Oregon, Canada and Mexico, among other areas. Joe Biden offered assistance from the Department of Defense.

Efforts to contain the fires have been hampered by perilous winds. The danger remains, but healthier air and blue skies have returned to Los Angeles. Still, a pall of uncertainty looms over the region, where almost 90,000 people remained displaced as of Tuesday, as well as a sense of anger. Many more are simply asking: how could this have happened?

With reports about budget cuts and fire hydrants that ran dry, some have looked to public officials, including Karen Bass. The Los Angeles mayor was criticised for being out of the country when the fires began. But, as my colleague Maanvi Singh and I noted in a recent story about Bass (below, with governor Gavin Newsom), much of the catastrophe befalling LA is beyond its mayor’s control and is the result of decades of policy decisions, including allowing communities to expand in a fire-prone landscape, and a climate that is creating conditions for more extreme fires.

Wildfires are familiar to the state. These blazes are part of a crisis that has been unfolding in the American west for the last decade, from the 2017 fire siege in California’s Bay Area to the catastrophic fire that destroyed the town of Paradise and killed 85 people in 2018. But never before has southern California seen a wildfire disaster at this scale.

As meteorologist Eric Holthaus wrote in the Guardian last week, conditions for a January firestorm in the city have never existed in all of known history, until now. “These fires are a watershed moment, not just for residents of LA, but emblematic of a new era of complex, compound climate disaster.”

With an estimated $250bn in losses, the Los Angeles fires are forecast to be the costliest in US history. The recovery effort will require a California version of the Marshall plan, state governor Gavin Newsom said, referring to the US-led effort to rebuild western Europe after the second world war. Newsom signed an executive order to ease environmental laws and permitting requirements and allow people to rebuild more quickly. Biden, meanwhile, pledged that the federal government would cover much of the firefighting costs for the next six months.

But before residents can even think of returning to their homes and begin the long process of rebuilding, crews must continue combing through the rubble for victims while containing the still burning blazes – as yet more fire weather is expected in the coming days.

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Profiling an inspiring individual, suggested by Down to Earth readers

Wind produced more power than ever in the UK last year as the country’s rapid decarbonisation of the power grid continued at pace. In the same year that the UK stopped using coal, its replacements are growing in use and reliability, showing to other developed countries still reliant on polluting fossil fuels that change is possible.

Nominated by the Guardian’s Patrick Greenfield

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Demystifying a climate concept you’ve heard in the headlines

The ability to prepare for, cope with and recover from the varying adverse impacts of climate change, while safeguarding against its effects getting worse.

For more Guardian coverage of climate resilience, click here

One image that sums up the week in environmental news

Credit: Gabrielle Canon

Guardian extreme weather correspondent – and Down to Earth regular – Gabrielle Canon has been at the forefront of our coverage of the devastating California wildfires. She was able to report on one positive from a tragic week: the “convoy of incredible people” saving animals from the fires.

From horses to chickens to goats and emus, thousands of animals have been evacuated to safer homes. Across the state, Gabrielle reports, “a network of volunteers was preparing to descend on the fire zones, ready to risk it all to save pets and livestock in need.”

For more of the week’s best environmental pictures, catch up on The Week in Wildlife here