How Wildfires Are Impacting California

On Tuesday, multiple wildfires broke out in Los Angeles County, the largest one encompassing almost 3,000 acres in western LA's Pacific Palisades coastal neighborhood at the time of writing. The rapid spread necessitated the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents, with the city of Malibu urging all residents to prepare to leave. With Santa Ana winds further fueling the flames and a containment rate of zero percent according to Cal Fire statistics, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on X the deployment of more than 1,400 firefighting personnel to combat "these unprecedented fires".

While fires this close to the Los Angeles metro are uncommon, wildfires exacerbated by a drier climate have been a major cause of damage in California for decades. In 2024 alone, more than 600,000 emergency responses connected to wildfires were registered by Cal Fire and more than one million acres of land burned. As official numbers show, the biggest fire with around 430,000 acres affected was the so-called Park Fire in the counties Butte and Tehama, located between Redding and Yuba City. Compared to the five-year average, 2024 had more emergency responses and fires, but fewer structures and areas affected. This can be chalked up to a relatively low amount of acreage burnt in both 2022 and 2023.

Nevertheless, the overall situation has worsened compared to 30 or even 20 years ago, which is, among other reasons, tied to an increase of settlements expanding into forested regions. This is also reflected in the increased expenditures for fire suppression. For the fiscal year 1994/1995, those expenses amounted to $69 million, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. For the 2024/2025 fiscal year, preliminary figures stand at roughly $700 million.