Palisades Fire Rages On: Escalating threats in Southern California as winds ground aircraft
Efforts to keep the rapidly spreading Palisades Fire from the ground to a stop were hindered on Tuesday night as high winds grounded firefighting aircraft and made the battle against the relentless blaze even more challenging.
Grounded aircraft toughen the odds for crews.
Aircraft operations were suspended shortly before 8 p.m. due to extreme wind conditions. However, winds were forecast to peak between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Wednesday, fire officials vowed to reassess the situation continuously.
Since igniting at Piedra Morada Drive around 10:By early evening, when the fire had already scorched 2,921 acres, over 30,000 residents had been forced to evacuate, as the blaze broke out at about 30 a.m. An ever-strengthening band of winds and a lack of humidity have provided a recipe for disaster, complicating overnight efforts at containing the flames.
Experts Say ‘The Worst Is Yet To Come’
Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist, was more cautious: “This event is not over; it’s just getting started.” The risk of the fire spreading grew as the strongest winds and lowest humidity levels were still to come, Swain said.
Fire Chief Anthony Marrone voiced a similar concern earlier in the day, warning that rising winds could make air attacks useless. ‘We will have few if any, air operations,’ stressed Governor Gavin Newsom, who visited the site, partly because of the futility. If we can be up there all day making people feel good,” he said, “and we never do any good.”
Seventy fires were raging across Southern California.
Fierce winds and bone-dry vegetation had spurred the new fire outbreaks, as predicted. By 6: The fire ignited in Pasadena’s foothills about 30 p.m. Tuesday and quickly grew to 20 acres, officials said. Another blaze, the Eaton Fire, erupted near Altadena and consumed approximately 400 acres by 8. However, at around 2 p.m., evacuations occurred, and more aircraft were grounded.
High Winds Historic Threaten Lives and Land
The National Weather Service issued a rare ‘hazardous situation’ windstorm warning, signaling this could be Southern California’s most destructive windstorm since 2011, over Los Angeles and Ventura counties for extreme fire danger. But the warning will expire Thursday, with fire risks remaining until vegetation dries out.
Swain explained that the drier the vegetation becomes—in some cases, moisture has only been replenished by a few inches in a few years, some of which might still be packed—the higher the risk becomes as the wind event continues longer. They’re vulnerable for days to come.
The Flames are Fuelled by climate change.
Experts say the extreme events are partly due to climate change. Alex Hall of UCLA emphasized the interplay of a particularly dry winter after an unusually warm summer and the high levels of vegetation in advance of recent wet years. He said it’s a perfect storm for wildfires.
Swain added that climate change doesn’t necessarily increase the number of wind events, but it increases the overlap between these conditions and dangerously dry vegetation. Governor Newsom summed up the grim reality: It’s fire year, and there’s no fire season anymore.
Unite Against The Inferno
Emergency crews, meanwhile, were battling to save homes and businesses as the Palisades Fire threatened the Getty Villa and Palisades Charter High School. But what does burn uncontrollably about the fire is a reminder of the dire resource and preparation demands of the area beset by the effects of climate change.
Check local advisories for evacuation updates and safety tips, and stay tuned to this story as it develops. As a community, we should help weather this crisis and support those on the front lines.
