Backyard Spark Creates LA’s Worst Nightmare: 20 Square Miles of Mansions Reduced to Ash!
On Tuesday morning, live cameras showed how a small spark in a backyard turned into grey smoke and then spread into a dangerous wildfire.
Within minutes, the smoke became a thick cloud, and flames started burning the dry plants and bushes nearby.
“This wildfire is spreading faster than anything we’ve ever seen,” said LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley. “It’s unlike anything in our lifetime.”
Sadly, stopping the wildfire soon seems nearly impossible because of the weather.
About 179,783 people in Los Angeles County are under evacuation orders. Another 200,000 are on evacuation warnings, meaning they might need to leave at any time, according to the BBC.
At least five people have died, and dozens have been injured.
The Palisades Fire, the largest in southern LA, has destroyed thousands of homes, businesses, and buildings.
Right now, five active fires are burning across Los Angeles.
Last summer, podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan talked about a chat with an LA firefighter. Rogan recalled the firefighter saying, “One day, if the wind and fire hit just right, it’ll burn through LA all the way to the ocean, and there won’t be a thing we can do about it.”
“If the wind blows the wrong way, LA is going to burn,” the firefighter had said.
Unfortunately, that prediction has come true.
Experts say the wildfire is spreading quickly because of the weather and climate change.
“Climate change, with more heat, longer droughts, and a drier atmosphere, has greatly increased the risk of wildfires in the western U.S.,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration explained.
Heavy rain from El Niño last year caused plants to grow in the Los Angeles area, but now they’ve dried out and turned into fuel for the fire, according to experts in the Daily Mail.
Strong Santa Ana winds, known as “devil winds,” have also made things worse. These dry and warm gusts blow from the northeast, unlike the cooler winds that usually come from the Pacific Ocean.
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