USA CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES BREAK RECORDS IN DAMAGE. LOSSES, EVACUATIONS

Women firefighters including prisoners. Lifelong women’s treasures lost to ashes.

California Wildfires Nearly Impossible to Contain

Ensuring the immediate safety of the residents is the priority, experts say.

By Julia Jacobo

January 9, 2025 – Spokesperson Lyndsey Lantz discusses the Los Angeles Fire Department’s containment efforts amid the historic and devastating Southern California wildfires.

A perfect storm of weather and climate conditions made the California wildfires nearly impossible to contain once they ignited, according to experts.

In a typical fire management scenario, containing the fire by setting up a perimeter and trying to keep it from spreading further is often the first line of defense for firefighters to get the blaze under control, according to Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources’ team of experts on fire research in California.

But a confluence of events — hurricane-force winds, low humidity levels and dry conditions — allowed the fires to explode after the initial spark, Rachel Cleetus, policy director for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told ABC News.

Trying to contain the fire under the wind scenario was “untenable,” Quinn-Davidson said.

“Keeping people safe was the No. 1 objective — evacuating people, keeping firefighters safe,” Quinn-Davidson said.

The fires have prompted mandatory evacuation orders for tens of thousands of people and ripped through entire neighborhoods in a matter of hours. At least five people have died and several others were injured as a result of the fires, according to officials late Thursday.

What we know about the containment of the wildfires so far

Five separate wildfires in the same region is proving difficult for firefighters to contain as they battle the flames amid high Santa Ana winds.

The Palisades Fire, which had burned through more than 19,000 acres in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles County, was 6% contained as of Thursday night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire.

Also in Los Angeles County, the Eaton Fire has burned more than 13,000 acres near the Altadena and Pasadena neighborhoods and is 0% contained, according to the state fire agency.

WUNRN

Why the California wildfires were nearly impossible to contain – ABC News