Swaths of Southern California look unlivable after a week of devastation
Fires ravaging Los Angeles yesterday spread to the Hollywood Hills, threatening the iconic Hollywood sign. Police announced a curfew and arrested a person in connection with one of the blazes, which have killed at least ten people, burned more than 27,000 acres, and caused an estimated $57 billion of damage. They are the most destructive in LA’s history.
So what? It’s January. In the same month in 2023, wildfires only burned 12,882 acres across the whole of the United States. Fifteen of the 20 most destructive wildfires in California’s history have been since 2015. But the conditions for this year’s firestorm are a first.
- Climate change caused almost a decade of drought in southern California, ending two years ago. Then two rainy winters allowed vegetation to flourish, providing fuel for fire.
- The 2024 winter has been very dry: downtown Los Angeles has recorded only 0.3 inches of rain since May. A third of the state is in drought. Sixteen million Southern Californians are under a “red flag” warning, meaning conditions are ideal for wildfires.
- This week, the Santa Ana winds reached 80-100mph. Climate change decreases the frequency but increases the intensity of the so-called “Devil Winds” – hot, dry winds from the Mojave Desert. Forcing fire downhill and carrying embers to nearby dry bushes, they have made the fires unpredictable and hard to fight.
We will (not) rebuild. Since 2018, insurance companies have been fleeing California after fires wiped out 25 years of profits. Last year State Farm – one of the state’s biggest insurers – dropped 70 per cent of its customers in the Pacific Palisades, the area worst hit by the fires. Allstate is refusing new customers. The state has an insurer of last resort, the Fair Plan, which nearly doubled its policy count between 2018 and 2021.
Climate refugees. More than three million Americans have moved due to flooding and other extreme weather in the past 20 years. But the grass isn’t always greener. The 23,000 Californians who arrived in North Carolina between 2021 and 2022 might have lowered their exposure to heat, but then came Hurricane Helene in 2024.
“There’s nowhere to go,” says John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather. “You need to stay in the place that means the most to you and figure out how to harden it.”
My diamond shoes are burning my feet. It’s tempting to dismiss a tragedy when its survivors book into the Beverly Hilton – but thousands don't have that option and when stars are affected, things can change.
Those who have lost their homes include Paris Hilton, Billy Crystal, Anthony Hopkins, Diane Warren, John Goodman, Adam Brody, Leighton Meester, Eugene Levy, Cary Elwes, Anna Faris and James Woods.
Collateral cost. There are no figures yet on the number of celebrity-owned artworks reduced to ash but Paris Hilton alone owns works by Takashi Murakami, Damien Hirst, Alex Israel, Andy Warhol and David LaChapelle.
Location, location, burned location. Landmarks of Hollywood history have also been destroyed. Palisades Charter High School (filming location of Freaky Friday, Carrie, and Teen Wolf) is gone. So too is the Topanga Ranch Motel, featured in Remington Steele and Mannix. Sunset Boulevard is in ruins, with the Chinese Theatre, Hollywood Bowl, Universal Studios and the Dolby Theatre all closed or under evacuation orders.
What’s more… John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, sang “burn, Hollywood, burn” in 1993. His Malibu beach house is currently a safe distance from the Palisades fire. Not so that of a producer who messaged a friend in London last night having escaped with nothing but her dog and laptop: “My house is gone.” More 80 mph Santa Ana winds are forecast for Monday and Tuesday.
