On Jan. 7, around 30 wildfires broke out in the counties of Los Angeles, Ventura, Riverside, and San Bernardino. The most notable ones are the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire, both of which are in Los Angeles County and still burning today. At least 200,000 people have been under evacuation notices between Jan. 7 and Jan. 16.
While fires are nothing new to Californians, the fires that started on Jan. 7 became an event that the United States hasn’t been seen in a while. The fires were not exactly unexpected, since the National Weather Service released a statement on X saying that extremely critical fire conditions were expected on Jan. 7 for Los Angeles and Ventura County. However, the scale of the fires was something nobody expected.
The CAL Fire website contains details and frequent updates of the current fires. As of early Jan. 17, over 40,000 acres have been burned, 12,300+ structures have been destroyed, and there have been at least 24 casualties. There is also an increasing number of people missing.
However, the biggest missing piece of information was what actually started the fires. There have been a variety of different speculations. Some Instagram reels showed sparks and flashes on power lines throughout Los Angeles, while others are accusing the fires to have been started by climate change or a person.
Another suspicious thing about these fires is that the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget recently got a 2% decrease in funding. The fire chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Kristin Crowley, has explicitly said that the budget cut has impacted the firefighters’ abilities to fight the fire, while the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, strongly disagrees with the statement.
Not only that, but insurance companies, such as State Farm, Allstate, and Farmers Insurance have been dropping clients unexpectedly. Unfortunately, this has left many people to turn to the California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan, also known as the FAIR plan, in order to get basic fire insurance coverage.
As of Jan. 20, the Palisades Fire is 59% contained and the Eaton Fire is 87% contained. Resources for those affected and those who want to help can be found on the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s website at www.lahsa.org.
The Review is looking for students that are from the Los Angeles area and have been affected by the fires. Students with stories are more than welcome to reach out to the UVU Review’s office located in SL213.
