Diving Into The Flames

The California fires have been devastating, displacing thousands of people in recent years. Some, like the Eaton fire, have been the most deadly fires LA has ever seen. In January, 2025, the Eaton Fire scorched over 14,000 acres¹. In early July, the damage caused by the Madre Fire was even greater, covering more than five times the area of the Eaton Fire². This raises questions about California’s vulnerability to fires. Why was California plunged into these devastating fires with so little warning?

There are several contributing factors behind the Eaton Fire, with experts seeing drought as a major contributor.  “The last two years in California have brought compound drought conditions—effectively, very dry winters followed by relentless summer heat and atmospheric aridity,” explained John Abatzoglou, a climate scientist at the University of California, Merced. “This has left soil and vegetation parched across much of California, so the landscape is capable of carrying fire that resists suppression ”³

Dried up bushes and shrubs are fuel for a fire to grow massive rapidly. 

Furthermore, dry seasons take the moisture from plants and greenery and serve as dry fuel for wildfires . “More severe droughts are part of a climate pattern occurring more frequently in California called weather whiplash — dramatic shifts between heavy rainfall and severe droughts.”

Whiplash weather like this can be expected to become more frequent if climate change progresses. “The main reason for these climate whiplash events is that a warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapor.”⁴ The southwest U.S. is largely covered by a moderate to exceptional drought⁵, which is yet another contribution to fires. Droughts and dry weather are major factors contributing to fires, but what’s the root cause? 

Climate change is a huge contributor- it’s one of the reasons why severe weather is becoming more and more extreme, causing fires, which leads to a trail of other hazards. While it is still unclear who or what caused the California fires, remaining vigilant and taking all the risks into consideration is essential. Another equally important factor is that “Global weather records show hydroclimate whiplash has swelled globally by 31% to 66% since the mid-20th century”⁶ Hydroclimate whiplash weather is mixing two extremes in weather, between floods, and drying conditions. Battling such a changing set of conditions has proven to be difficult, considering that this type of weather grows plants merely to dry them out, which creates opportunities for a small spark to grow into a devastating flame.

The Madre Fire’s cause has yet to be determined, according to various news channels. The fire has covered roughly 80,000 acres and after six days, roughly a third had been contained.

Various fires have occurred, like the Rancho fire, which was considerably smaller, but nonetheless could have posed a serious threat. The rapidly increasing frequency of these fires is a wake-up call to the destruction these fires are capable of. Mixed with California’s dry conditions and lack of rainfall only add to the intensity of the flames. The weather conditions in California also play a role in drying out vegetation, evaporating water bodies, and essentially aiding a fire’s spread. While droughts are “a natural feature of California’s climate”, they are agitated by human caused warming⁷.

These various points cover why the fires could have happened, but not how the intensity and frequency of these fires has skyrocketed.. Simply put, California’s natural resistance to these fires is also plummeting, with their asbestos forests losing their “protective layer of fog and mist”⁸. These fires burn down trees, not only creating smoke, but destroying one of the best natural resources we have to depollute that air from being burned down with it. As the trees burn down, they “crash to the forest floor”⁸, and provide huge amounts of fuel to help the fire spread. As a fire spreads, it burns trees and makes them crash, essentially repeating itself, becoming an issue to suppress these fires. This becomes problematic, as the first few fires would wipe out whatever natural protection California has, thus making way for other fires to spread quicker.

This quickly turns into an uphill battle, considering that the  “smoke produced by major fires is so potent that a single weeks-long blaze can undo a year’s worth of carbon-reduction efforts”⁸. California also spends a considerable amount on said fires. For example, in “2018, California spent nearly $1 billion on fire suppression and emergency response, surpassing the budgeted $450 million”⁸. The Santa Ana winds, which are a natural part of California’s climate, “create hostile environments for firefighters. When some of the fires in California first started, the winds were gusting to 80, 90 or even 100 miles an hour— similar to that of a Category 2 or 3 hurricane.”⁹

These hostile winds and worsening conditions are making these fires harder to stop or prevent in the first place. Experts are saying that “Human-induced climate change is increasing wildfires in many regions of the world, as hot, dry and windy weather conditions increase the risk of fires both starting and spreading”¹⁰ 

Climate change is not limited to only these fires. If not stopped, it could easily make conditions like floods and hurricanes more devastating as well. The solution lies in more eco-friendly laws about overconsumption and green energy, to stop before it’s too late. Time is essential in this battle to fix our world.

Sources 

1)CAL FIRE. “Eaton Fire | CAL FIRE.” Ca.gov, 2025, www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2025/1/7/eaton-fire. 

2) Deliso, Meredith. “Madre Fire in California Explodes to More than 35,000 Acres Overnight, Evacuation Orders Issued.” ABC News, 3 July 2025, abcnews.go.com/US/madre-fire-california-san-luis-obispo-county/story?id=123455669. 

3) Voiland, Adam. “What’s behind California’s Surge of Large Fires?” Earthobservatory.nasa.gov, 4 Oct. 2021, earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/148908/whats-behind-californias-surge-of-large-fires. 

‌4) Channel, The Weather. “Whiplash between Extreme Dry, Wet Weather Is Happening More Often, New Study Shows.” Weather.com, The Weather Channel, 19 Jan. 2025, weather.com/news/climate/news/2025-01-17-climate-whiplash-fire-drought-rain-fire. 

‌5) National Drought Mitigation Center. “U.S. Drought Monitor.” Unl.edu, 31 Dec. 2011, droughtmonitor.unl.edu/. 

‌6) “Floods, Droughts, Then Fires: Hydroclimate Whiplash Is Speeding up Globally.” University of California, 16 Jan. 2025, www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/floods-droughts-then-fires-hydroclimate-whiplash-speeding-globally. 

‌7) OEHHA. “Drought.” Ca.gov, 1 July 2024, oehha.ca.gov/climate-change/epic-2022/changes-climate/drought. 

8)Cart, Julie. “Wildfires in January? Here’s Why California Wildfire Season Is Worse.” CalMatters, 8 Jan. 2025, calmatters.org/explainers/california-wildfire-season-worsening-explained/. 

‌9)Ye, Yvaine. “How Powerful Winds Are Turning California Fires into an Uncontrollable Crisis.” CU Boulder Today, 13 Jan. 2025, www.colorado.edu/today/2025/01/13/how-powerful-winds-are-turning-california-fires-uncontrollable-crisis. 

10) World Weather Attribution. “Climate Change Increased the Likelihood of Wildfire Disaster in Highly Exposed Los Angeles Area  – World Weather Attribution.” Worldweatherattribution.org, 28 Jan. 2025, www.worldweatherattribution.org/climate-change-increased-the-likelihood-of-wildfire-disaster-in-highly-exposed-los-angeles-area/.