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Kitchen Table Kibitzing: LA Fires [1]
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Date: 2025-01-09
Reading through last night’s KTK, I noticed a good deal of back and forth about the fires in LA County. Wanted to provide space for those who are impacted to check in and let us know how things are going and to provide some info on how we can help out.
x How to help those affected by fires raging across Los Angeles County
www.latimes.com/california/s... How to help those affected by wildfires in LA County | KCAL Cares
www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/n...
[image or embed] — Gene Shackman (@gsociology.bsky.social) January 9, 2025 at 9:02 AM
x If people want to help and are able to donate to help those affected by these LA fires, here are places they can donate: friendsindeedpas.org/donate-to-fr... cpf.salsalabs.org/disasterreli... www.directrelief.org/emergency/ca... www.pledge.to/ccfwildfirer... www.globalgiving.org/projects/cal...
[image or embed] — Kumail Nanjiani (@kumail.bsky.social) January 9, 2025 at 8:39 AM
I recall hearing Monday the fears of predicted high winds and tinderbox conditions on the ground in the area were ripe for some major fires, but this? This is almost incomprehensible.
As Axios reported yesterday, LA's wildfires sparked by rare collision of climate factors, citing “Climate change is intensifying hydroclimate extremes, both wet and dry, including weather whiplash events where California see-saws between the two.”
Frin the Axios article:
Alex Hall, also with UCLA, said the hydroclimate situation plus the strong winds have suddenly created a precarious situation. "Southern California has experienced a particularly hot summer, followed by almost no precipitation during what is normally our wet season," he said.
"And all of this comes on the heels of two very rainy years, which means there is plenty of fuel for potential wildfires."
The AP reports:
Southern California is experiencing its most devastating winter fires in more than four decades. Fires don’t usually blaze at this time of year, but specific ingredients have come together to defy the calendar in a fast and deadly manner. Start with supersized Santa Ana winds whipping flames and embers at 100 mph — much faster than normal — and cross that with the return of extreme drought. Add on weather whiplash that grew tons of plants in downpours then record high temperatures that dried them out to make easy-to-burn fuel. Then there’s a plunging and unusual jet stream, and lots of power lines flapping in those powerful gusts. Experts say that’s what is turning wildfires into a deadly urban conflagration.
“Tiny, mighty and fast” fires have blazed through America’s west in the last couple of decades as the world warms, said University of Colorado fire scientist Jennifer Balch.
She published a study in the journal Science last October that looked at 60,000 fires since 2001 and found that the fastest-growing ones have more than doubled in frequency since 2001 and caused far more destruction that slower, larger blazes. “Fires have gotten faster,” Balch said Wednesday. “The big culprit we’re suspecting is a warming climate that’s making it easier to burn fuels when conditions are just right.” Summer fires are bigger usually, but they don’t burn nearly as fast. Winter fires “are much more destructive because they happen much more quickly” said U.S. Geological Survey fire scientist Jon Keeley. AccuWeather estimated damage from the latest fires could reach $57 billion, with the private firm’s chief meteorologist, Jonathan Porter, saying “it may become the worst wildfire in modern California history based on the number of structures burned and economic loss.” apnews.com/...
ABC has compiled a list of how you can help.
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