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More than 30,000 people evacuated their homes as a wildfire tore through a coastal area of Los Angeles in just a few hours, and a second blaze some 30 miles (50 km) inland was rapidly spreading on Wednesday driven by locally strong winds, according to Reuters.
The news agency reports that “numerous buildings were destroyed and nearly 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares) were burned in the upscale Pacific Palisades area between the beach towns of Santa Monica and Malibu.”
People fled the inferno as smoke and flames rose over Los Angeles on Tuesday night. The fires had not been extinguished by Wednesday morning leading Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency
Reuters also reported a second blaze, dubbed the Eaton Fire, which flared up 30 miles (50 km) inland in Altadena, near Pasadena, and increased in size to 1,000 acres (400 hectares) from 200 acres in a few hours, according to Cal Fire.
According to the reports, more than 220,000 homes and businesses in Los Angeles county were without power late on Tuesday, data from PowerOutage.us showed. Parts of Malibu and Santa Monica are under evacuation orders while Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley revealed that more than 25,000 people in 10,000 homes were threatened.
The US National Weather Service had issued its highest alert for extreme fire conditions for much of Los Angeles County from Tuesday through Thursday. With low humidity and dry vegetation due to a lack of rain, the conditions were "about as bad as it gets in terms of fire weather," the service said.
La Niña conditions in the Pacific to start winter have resulted in higher-than-average pressure in the eastern Pacific Basin over the cooler than average waters, and so coastal counties of western North America have seen drier weather and lighter winds than would be typical in winter, due to the lack of rising air.
Whilst many may correlate wildfires with summer hot weather, the event unfolding this week demonstrates that fire conditions can occur at any time of the year in places prone to periods of low humidity and rainfall, especially those in the vicinity of desert regions, such as inland California.
Russell will be monitoring the development this event and possibly others, as La Niña conditions look to strengthen – at least for a time, and the days (in the Northern Hemisphere) get longer.
