Impressive flames all around Los Angeles. The large city on the west coast of the United States has suffered gigantic fires since Tuesday. Many emblematic places in the city are threatened by these megafires. The latter came dangerously close to the Hollywood district this Thursday, leading the authorities to evacuate its residents. In total, at least five people have died and more than 2,000 buildings have already been destroyed around the megacity.
Many fires broke out in the north of the city, including in upscale neighborhoods. On site, emergency services are overwhelmed by the severity of the crisis. “ We don’t have enough firefighters in Los Angeles County to deal with this situation,” lamented Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone on Wednesday, according to comments reported by AFP. Some residents lost everything. “The flames have consumed all our dreams, after years spent here,” one of them, William Gonzales, told the French press agency in front of his completely burned house.
Amusement park closed, filming of films and series postponed, film award ceremony season disrupted… Many events were also canceled because of the disaster. According to American media, several celebrities are among the population evacuated from areas endangered by the fires.
The scale of these fires, which occurred in the middle of winter, is surprising. This kind of disaster is usually very rare at this season. Until today, the most serious episode in this area dates from November 2018, when 20,000 homes were destroyed by flames, particularly in the city of Sacramento. The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, immediately pointed out the role of climate change in this new disaster. “November, December, January… There is no more fire season. It takes place all year round,” he lamented.
“El Niño” phenomenon and hot winds from the desert
Can global warming explain the scale of these fires? To understand this, we need to go back a little and analyze the weather data from recent months in the region. California first experienced heavy rains from January to July 2024, then a long drought in the following months until the present. In question? The El Niño atmospheric phenomenon, which occurs cyclically in the eastern Pacific. This has the effect of a general warming of temperatures on Earth.
Floods, heavy rainfall, episodes of drought… El Niño, whose formation is itself reinforced by global warming, can lead to all kinds of natural consequences for populations. With the influence of this mechanism last year, California has become a breeding ground for these megafires. The heavy rains at the beginning of 2024 favored the development of abundant vegetation. When the lack of water was felt in the following months, these plants dried out, becoming more easily flammable.
More than for the fire itself, climate change therefore appears to have played a role in creating conditions favoring its spread on the ground. “California has warmed by at least 2 degrees in the region since 1900,” recalls Benjamin Sultan, climatologist at the Institute of Research for Development (IRD) and contacted by Public Senate. “And then 2024 is still the hottest year ever recorded on a global scale. So it’s likely that we’ll pay the consequences a little. »
The wind also played a determining factor in the advance of the flames. The fire was thus favored by another phenomenon, called the Santa Ana winds. These gusts, dry and hot, come from desert lands. With a power recorded up to 160 km/h according to the American meteorological services, these have reached a very strong level of power in recent days in California. The slightest spark could then be transported by these air currents and lead to a fire. These winds had “the force of a hurricane,” described Los Angeles Democratic Mayor Karen Bass.
Urban planning in question
Beyond these purely climatic aspects, the significant damage caused by these megafires is also linked to the nature of the affected areas. As for the two main fire sources, Eaton and Pacific Palisades, these are residential neighborhoods located on the edge of the forest. “The damage suffered by populations is often linked to human factors in the countries, to planning, to the capacity of public authorities to be resilient in the face of these impacts,” explains Benjamin Sultan.
Several independent experts and environmental activists have specifically blamed the urban sprawl of Los Angeles. “When dwellings are densely arranged [au sein d’un quartier] and aligned in the direction of the wind present during fire season, it is almost impossible to cut enough brush around them to make the homes defensible. The fire is burning from house to house, so it is no longer a ‘bush fire’,” Zeke Lunder, American specialist in forest fire prevention, explained on the social network
For Benjamin Sultan, a new vision is also necessary to prevent this type of catastrophe. “There are always conditions that are always more conducive to fires,” analyzes the expert. “So public authorities must adapt, by creating buffer zones, by using construction materials that are fire resistant. We also need better development, with homes less close to forests. »
In the immediate future, emergency services are primarily trying to channel the power of these fires. US President Joe Biden canceled a trip to Italy and went to California. He announced the release of federal aid to help the region and deal with these forest fires deemed “unprecedented” by local authorities.
Donald Trump s’offusque
At the same time, his successor in the White House, Donald Trump, for his part, reacted to the tragedy by putting forward conspiratorial rhetoric on his Truth Social network. According to the Democratic Governor of the State of California, Gavin Newsom, he “refused to sign the water restoration declaration that was presented to him” during the billionaire’s first term in the White House. According to him, this “would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and melting snow in the North, to flow daily into many areas of California, including in the areas currently burning.
By his refusal, the governor wanted to protect the smelt, “a useless fish”, continued the American president-elect. An argument denied outright by the Democratic leader, one of the popular figures in his camp. “The statement on water restoration does not exist, it is pure fiction. The governor is focused on protecting the population, not politics,” clarified Gavin Newsom’s communications department.
Donald Trump, a self-proclaimed climate skeptic, did not mention global warming in his message. However, the more the earth’s climate changes, the more this type of fire could occur at any time of the year in the United States. These megafires themselves also worsen global warming, as Benjamin Sultan explains. “These fires […] destroy forests and limit their capacity to absorb atmospheric CO2. We have a sort of vicious circle with fires which are produced by global warming and which then, themselves, will amplify the warming… and recreate fires. »
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