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If only they had raked the forests clear like trump suggested last time he was in office.
It sounds grim. Thoughts go out to folk affected, even the wealthy.
Eh? Are you deluding yourself that it isn’t headline news outside the US precisely because millionaires/celebrities are affected?
No.
Are you deluding yourself that this is the subject?
If it was framed that way then yeah, I could see that. But it wasn't.
If it wasn’t for the fact that it’s a load of millionaire celebrities being burned out of their homes it probably wouldn’t even be on the news.
There are six billion people in the world and millions die an untimely and grisly death every year or endure suffering that is no fault of their own. Do we get all ‘heartbroken’ and upset about those? No we don’t. My comment was more matter of fact than misanthropic. I wish no ill on anyone who doesn’t deserve it but the reality is that shit does happen. The fact it’s currently happening in a part of the world which thinks it is immune from this reality is just an ironic twist.
Sez someone who clearly doesn’t bother watching the many, many news reports that I’ve seen over many years, of destruction of entire regions through natural disasters and war. Probably hasn’t noticed the recent media coverage of the tsunami twenty years ago that killed thousands of people around Indonesia, ‘cos nobody was the slightest bit concerned about it at the time…
So far there are tens of thousands of people in LA who are dispossessed, have literally lost everything they owned, nothing that can even be recovered from the wreckage and a very small number are millionaires. How many of these people will get anything back through insurance, how many injured will get coverage from the utterly useless American health system? Which billionaire scumbags are trying to destroy for their own ends.
And to top it all, it’s been noticed that arsonists have been involved, I’ve seen a video of a bunch of people chucking inflammable material onto a fire they’d started in the yard of a building, which was already burning the leaves of trees in the yard.
But of course, it’s only about the millionaires… [img] 
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Sez someone who clearly doesn’t bother watching the many, many news reports that I’ve seen over many years..
Assuming an awful lot there. I've seen plenty of news reports. Doesn't change the fact though that I don't know these Americans any more than I know some random African or Afghan who has died in a flood or earthquake. Yes it's horrible for the people involved, but it happens all the time all over the world. Personally I'm much more upset about the homeless and poor people who are allowed to suffer as a result of the economic system we have deliberately designed to enable a few people to accumulate vast wealth while many more go hungry. Weird how we care so much about people who suffer through 'acts of god' but conveniently ignore those who suffer by the design of our own actions.
Weird how we care so much about people who suffer through ‘acts of god’ but conveniently ignore those who suffer by the design of our own actions.
Actually there is a suggestion that it might not all be down to God. Anthropogenic activity might have also played a part.
Anthropogenic activity might have also played a part.
Very true but the point still stands. Most people will see these fires as a natural disaster and react with the normal horror and concern. Then tomorrow they'll go to work and walk straight past a homeless person and not give it a second thought.
Watching the news just now and two things seem to jump out. First is which famous people have lost (one of) their homes. Did we really need to know that Jennifer Aniston is a victim? Second is that they are very concerned about looters. Quite why they're bothered about a bit of petty theft when entire towns have burned down is beyond me but it's a good indicator of our warped priorities.
Did we really need to know that Jennifer Aniston is a victim? Second
No but some people might want to know, that is what interests a lot of people...... what car a celebrity drives, what coat they are wearing, and what the soft furnishings in their lounge look like. Personally I have zero interest but I understand that many people are fascinated by such stuff.
I maintain that the current level of interest shown by the media to the fires in Southern California is not primarily because it effects wealthy people but because it effects Americans.
Any important news story from the United States is deemed to be hugely important to UK audiences. Despite the fact that an natural disaster in ****stan, for example, is far more likely to directly affect a higher percentage of UK TV audiences and newspaper readers than a natural disaster in the United States is likely to.
In contrast I doubt that Americans share a similar interest in anything much that affects people beyond their borders.
One hopes that maybe, just maybe, such publicity of "natural disasters" so close to home may cause Trump-voting, climate change denying f++kwits to think twice about which type of leadership they want in their country.
For the rest of the worlds sake, I hope so but I'm not optimistic...
Quite a big plume of smoke blowing over the Pacific...
Yeah, it's not a pleasant experience at all. We had one (20km2) nearby earlier this week which fortunately was dealth with quickly but it was behind the hospital (but blowing away). Wind changes though and it's horrible to get stuck in smoke, or have to re-route because the fire has jumped a main road or train track.
Great site I use is bushfire.io you can see size of fire, ground temps and air support. Also use scanner radio to listen to the local fire service and SES. If you use the site you can see what the current state of bushfire is across Australia but you can also zoom out and look at the size of the California situation.
No but some people might want to know, that is what interests a lot of people…… what car a celebrity drives, what coat they are wearing, and what the soft furnishings in their lounge look like. Personally I have zero interest but I understand that many people are fascinated by such stuff.
In terms of what interests people, I think there’s also quite a primal interest in fire and it’s destructive power, an interest more hard wired in us than any in earthquakes or floods, it also seems to make quite vivid television.
Unfortunately we do also seem to be in an age of bread and circuses so things burning is going to be a ratings winner.
referring to the bulldozer in the OP. or is it a superscooper?
https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c24n4pz6p2eo
Controversial- some of the wealthy, film stars types (mostly foreign) who have homes there, aren’t climate change deniers, don’t agree with Trump and will be helping their poorer less fortunate neighbours with funding.
We can’t lump them all in the same boat.
We can’t lump them all in the same boat.
No we can't, because a lot/most of the people who have lost their properties in Malibu will almost certainly have another property somewhere else to which they can move to. At the very least they'll be holed up in 5 star hotel somewhere else in LA. I doubt very much they will be on a camp bed in a local school or sports centre. Looking at it another way, if we're concerned about minimising human suffering then we should be thankful that a disaster like this has occured in such a wealthy area rather than say a Brazilian favela where 10s of thousands might have died. Small mercies I guess!
The area burned or on fire is roughly the size of The Wirral.
Yeah it's huge. Sky news had a graphic showing it as the same area as central London. Having said that though the greater LA area is comparable in size to the entire North West of England from the Wirral up to the Lake District and due to the size of the properties the housing density is nowhere near what we have here so need to keep that in mind.
The Palisades fire alone is 20,000 acres - that's over 30 square miles. Can't really imagine such a thing.
Yes that is correct, every house in LA is a huge mega-mansion owned by billionaires who deserve to burn. They deserve zero empathy.
every house in LA is a huge mega-mansion owned by billionaires who deserve to burn.
Wind your neck in. I haven’t said anything of the sort. The fact there have only been 10 fatalities (so far) indicates that this disaster isn’t on the scale of many others. Property can be replaced.
You literally have no idea. This is a huge fire in terms of the wider impact as it is so highly populated. Suburbs on the fringes of one of the largest cities in world are literally being burnt to a crisp.
This sequence of fires will probably cause over $50 billion of insured losses. For every $1 of insured loss there will be at least $1 of non-insured loss, often referred to as economic loss. These are the people who didn't have insurance, couldn't afford insurance, or forgot to renew it, or were refused insurance and so on. These are YOUR kind of people as per your spouting on political threads. They are the disenfranchised, the poor, the needy that need some support. Why do have zero empathy for them? They have literally lost everything apart from the clothes that they are wearing. They have no means to get their life back. That is the same as being a refugee in Darfur, or an arrival on a boat in Europe probably the victim of human traffickers. So why do you have such as shitty attitude towards them?
I've got news for you, we are all going to be affected by this. Insurance and reinsurance is a global business where participants diversify their risk by taking on risks across the world to avoid all their eggs in one basket scenarios. That means every time there's a container ship that sinks, or an airplane crashes or an earthquake or a US wildfire or an Australian Cyclone with flooding, all of our insurance goes up. The cost of doing business increases for everyone in the sector.
So when your home insurance goes £20 next year up you can blame it on the wildfires and once again blame those blumming billionaires with the now crispy skin. They deserve it after all.
They deserve it after all.
I never said that. If you're going to put words in my mouth though two can play at that game. Sounds like you're mainly concerned with how your insurance prices are going to be affected. Nice!
It's not that I don't have empathy, more that I can put this disaster into proper perspective in terms of human fatalaties and injuries, which are thankfully minimal. It's true I don't care too much about property losses, especially when many of those affected can absorb those losses. Even the ones who can't will benefit from living in a country which routinely provides direct support from the govt in response to natural disasters. If I was going to be affected by a natural disaster like this, I'd want to have lots of money and/or live in a country with a govt which will support me to rebuild my life. It's terrible for those involved, but it could have been very much worse if it happened somewhere else.
Weird how we care so much about people who suffer through ‘acts of god’ but conveniently ignore those who suffer by the design of our own actions.
Some of us have the empathy and emotional capacity to care about both. Some of us don't.
James Woods has hit the Internet to cry that his house has burned down and he didn't have insurance.
So it's not all bad news.
but it could have been very much worse if it happened somewhere else.
That's the thing, you need the right set of conditions for this to happen and to turn into a very large uncontrollable fire. You really don't get them in many places so your somewhere else argument isn't really valid.
Wildfires need fuel (basically dry or dead plants), dryness and/or sustained reasonably high temperatures, they need wind to fan the flames and slope is another key factor. Why slope? well firefighters cannot normally tackle blazes on slopes over 30deg as the terrain is too difficult to get into and the water supply is often not there plus it is often too dangerous to fight those fires. The seasonal Santa Anna wind pushes the flames down the slopes - can you imagine trying to fight fire above your head that is leaping forward?
Why is that relevant? the antecedent conditions (situation before the bad thing happened) and topography of the hills around LA provided all these worse cases scenarios for this fire. The fuel was there as they've had a drought, then record rains to hep grow vegetation all year followed by another drought to turn it into a tinder box. Add into this mix an increase in housing being built in forested areas on the periphery of the suburbs which are often occupied by people with no experience of living with natural fires around them (this is the wildland urban interface). These new houses are just merely more potential fuel if the grounds around them are not maintained well enough. (California has very strict fire management rules for vegetation clearing near properties)
So to say that it'd be worse somewhere else is like saying that recent earthquake in Tibet would have been terrible if it was in Newcastle. Yes but no, as it physically could not have happened in Newcastle. It is an ill-informed thing to say.
FWIW, in 2018 there was a wildfire called the Woolsey fire, just slightly NW of this now infamous Palisades fire. It burnt ~80,000 acres but the population is very low there so it was nowhere near as bad as this one. So the location is critical in determining the impact or much worse-ness . That caused around $8-10 Billion of economic losses. Everyone pays to fix this mess so we all suffer
The Palisades fire alone is 20,000 acres – that’s over 30 square miles. Can’t really imagine such a thing.
The Jasper wildfire last summer was 80k Acres or 1.2 Birminghams... Your head truly can't get around that size of fire.
There is also a cultural impact that hasn't been considered by most people outside of LA but just an example, Bob Clearmountain's house and studio has been lost, so that's a load of Rock recording history memorabilia and tapes etc gone, he was the man who recorded Born To Run and tons of other significant albums/singles; as well as loss of another studio because the buildings will struggle to be justified to be replaced and the console, microphones etc all gone . Bob and his wife have evacuated safely.
There’s been a lot said, particularly by the likes of Diaper Don and his enablers, about the lack of water, how the hydrants have been allowed to run dry, how it’s all the fault of the governor, blah, blah, blah…
Apparently the water system was designed to cope with small local fires, houses, large buildings, etc; it was never intended to deal with wildfires driven by hurricane force winds, sending burning embers miles ahead of the main fire. This article from the LA Times explains in a lot of detail just what they’ve had to contend with…
The complete lack of empathy being shown by certain people here is astounding, but I’m not surprised, it’s a clear indication of certain psychological issues.
I dont understand is how detached properties managed to go up in flames one after another.
Have they no fire brigade or water sources that would allow people/authorities to damp down adjacent homes ?.
In some of the pics it certainly appears that they've done nothing like that and allowed them to burn one after another.
Another thing I find odd is many of the burnt homes have trees near them that are untouched by fire. Trees on the properties themselves are burnt, but there are others including scrub that is untouched
I dont understand is how detached properties managed to go up in flames one after another.
I assume you have not read any one of the multiple news reports about the fires then?
I dont understand is how detached properties managed to go up in flames one after another
In a perpetually sunny place like southern California shade is a valued asset. Trees provide shade. In the foothills of a massive forest, trees are something you'd naturally keep or replant for both aesthetic and functional purpose.
Looking at Google maps shows massive infill of foliage. Predominantly trees and pools rather than open lots devoid of combustible material.
The typical roof being asphalt shingle and presumably good use of soffit and ridge venting along with embers following air currents means there's a strong likelihood that smouldering embers will easily be carried into lost spaces and hot spots start quickly then run away as they begin to be fueled by the oil in the roof material.
Looking at the "normal neighborhoods" it's fascinating to see some houses still stood amongst the destruction. These aren't "brick houses" and not necessarily any more fire resistant materials than the majority but perhaps they had fire proof soffit vents, were more fire smart with their property, cleaned the leaf/tree debris from their gutters and employed roof sprinklers?
I dont understand is how detached properties managed to go up in flames one after another.
Because they're made out of wood?
I dont understand is how detached properties managed to go up in flames one after another.
I assume you have not read any one of the multiple news reports about the fires then?
[img] 
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I dont understand is how detached properties managed to go up in flames one after another
With a hurricane force wind blowing glowing embers several miles? Flames turning into a building sized blowtorch with a hundred mile per hour wind behind it?
Son, you really need to get out more. [img] 
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Horrendous for all involved. I was listening to Radio four the other day and they were speaking to a lady who lost a lifetimes worth of writing. Doesn't sound like much but really made me stop and think.
I'm just glad that the emergency services have done a cracking job when it comes to protecting life. Considering the size and scale (that I can't even wrap my head around) the low casualty rate shows what outstanding work has been done.
Because they’re made out of wood
This probably isn't as significant as people who live in brick houses think.
The majority of these homes will be covered in stucco (render) or cementious Hardie shingle/plank and equally as flame spread resistant as a brick facade. Sure, some will have vinyl or cedar siding coated in oil based treatments or paint.
Your brick house still has wooden roof trusses, flammable fascia/soffit, wooden floor systems and glass windows along with a house full of flammable belongings. All the same wild fire ingress points exist.
Spacial separation calculations are done here in BC at least based on the unprotected openings (glass) as once a window blows out, even without these winds, established interior fire spreads sideways. If they've a window close enough, they'll get Burnet too.
A significant heat source of a burning bush next to a window in a brick house could equally provide fire a pathway into a house, contents take over, floor systems goes, roof too and on it goes.
The brick walls might stay standing, but the house is likely a tear down anyway.
Now, concrete homes with fire protected openings, metal roofs, ember proof ventilation, interior/exterior sprinklers, vegetation free yards are where it's at. Likely be further revisions to California's home hardening and defensible space rule following this
On top of everything else, now a SuperScooper water bomber had had to be grounded after a wing leading edge was damaged after being impacted by a drone being flown in an active fire region. [img] 
[/img]
Seems there is a problem with insurance. In 1988 a law was passed preventing insurance companies from pricing according to risk. As a result many stopped writing fire risk policies in California.
No problem. There was a state backed insurer of last resort. The FAIR plan. It has $2.5Bn of reserves. The LA fire is $25BN and counting. The shortfall will be made up by surcharges of up to $3700 on every policy in California.
" By suppressing price signals about risk, California’s regulatory regime encouraged development in fire-prone areas while simultaneously reducing incentives for fire prevention. When you can get subsidised insurance regardless of risk, why spend extra money on fire-resistant materials or clearing brush? When property owners don’t bear the full cost of their location decisions, they’ll naturally take more risks than they would in a free market."
Water - "Consider water infrastructure. California hasn’t built a major new reservoir since 1992, despite adding 10 million residents. Environmental regulations, particularly those protecting populations of Delta smelt, have actively reduced water availability to Southern California."
https://capx.co/the-la-fires-a-story-of-political-failure
The physical size of the fires really aren't that big. It's where they are and the population density.
2020 here was way way bigger but from a human perspective* less damaging:
Up to 19 million hectares were burnt, with 12.6 million hectares primarily forest and bushland. 33 lives were lost and around 3,094 homes destroyed.
The fact it happened at the arse end of the world and didn't affect major connurbations (by pure luck) just as Covid kicked off meant it got less attention.
*estimated 3 billion animals affected
If you want see how many fires rage across the world year after year click link and press play on the world map
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/global-maps/MOD14A1_M_FIRE
The typical roof being asphalt shingle and presumably good use of soffit and ridge venting along with embers following air currents means there’s a strong likelihood that smouldering embers will easily be carried into lost spaces and hot spots start quickly then run away as they begin to be fueled by the oil in the roof material.
Thanks for that BlackBear, certainly a more informative answer than the sarcastic retort some members felt like giving.
It kind of explains why some houses were left unburnt and surrounded by greenery.
Spacial separation calculations are done here in BC at least based on the unprotected openings (glass) as once a window blows out, even without these winds, established interior fire spreads sideways. If they’ve a window close enough, they’ll get Burnet too.
Windows are definitely the weak point.
Our building code demands specific glass but we also have fire rated screens.
Also there's not allowed to be a gap more than 2mm around the whole exterior to prevent ingress.
However the problem with codes is they apply to new houses and renovations, most of the housing stock here and no doubt in LA if they have similar will pre-date the code.
Good stuff from C5 as usual..
Even the ones who can’t will benefit from living in a country which routinely provides direct support from the govt in response to natural disasters. If I was going to be affected by a natural disaster like this, I’d want to have lots of money and/or live in a country with a govt which will support me to rebuild my life.
You obviously don't remember Katrina.
How much support do you really think people will get?
Thanks for that BlackBear, certainly a more informative answer than the sarcastic retort some members felt like giving.
Ah, irony.
Yeah, that was an interesting read, thanks.
Update on current situation, or as current as possible…
Looters dressed as fire fighters are looting the homes of the rich and famous apparently.
Well that sounds like an unnecessary requirement to carry a 300 inch flat screen TV out of an abandoned home. Where are they getting their hands on fire fighters uniforms?
Is it definitely not fire fighters doing the looting?
Where are they getting their hands on fire fighters uniforms?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/FEESHOW-Firefighter-Boyshorts-Jumpsuit-Fireman/dp/B0DFY9DC55/?th=1
Where are they getting their hands on fire fighters uniforms?
Same places you can buy other sorts of PPE, along with eBay.
Is it definitely not fire fighters doing the looting?
That is really a stupid, ridiculous statement! There are barely enough fire fighters to deal with containing the fires, have you not looked at the containment figures?
Same places you can buy other sorts of PPE, along with eBay.
Well it's good to see looters putting a bit of preplanning before looting the homes of the rich and famous of their valuable goods, and first of all going on eBay to purchase some PPE.
But tell me, wouldn't the looters be drawing attention to themselves by dressing up as fire fighters? I mean you don't often see a fire fighter coming out of a house carrying a large flat screen telly and walking down the road with it, do you?
spekkie
Free Member
Looters dressed as fire fighters are looting the homes of the rich and famous apparently.
Do you REALLY believe this and do you REALLY think it's good idea to spread such shite? No wonder social media is such a cesspit...
One hopes that maybe, just maybe, such publicity of “natural disasters” so close to home may cause Trump-voting, climate change denying f++kwits to think twice about which type of leadership they want in their country.
For the rest of the worlds sake, I hope so but I’m not optimistic…
It's an area that voted democrat. For both Trump and his supporters that'll be the main cause of the fire - it's just a bit of justifiable retribution. God will have done it to teach them a lesson.
Having said that, I'm struggling to get too piqued by it - it's a country with the political and financial influence to have prevented (or slowed) climate change if it'd wanted to, and has the financial capacity to put things right now. Devastation to natural habitat and death of wildlife is bloomin sad though.
Meanwhile....an evening with neighbours that work for MSF, specifically on the issues in Sudan currently, brings into the sharp relief the huge bias in our news reporting and focus and probably a better idea of where I should currently be giving my ****s.
But tell me, wouldn’t the looters be drawing attention to themselves by dressing up as fire fighters? I mean you don’t often see a fire fighter coming out of a house carrying a large flat screen telly and walking down the road with it, do you?
Well, I’ve seen news footage of looters stealing all kinds of stuff, including tellies, computers etc, during spates of rioting and looting, but I don’t think anyone has said these looters are stealing stuff from millionaires, the police have said there has been looting, probably from the homes of ordinary Angelinos, and don’t you understand the concept of camouflage? As in, wearing fire fighters clothing that matches the actual fire fighters? Also, they’re looting from active fire areas, wearing highly inflammable synthetics is stupid, even the BBC reporter on scene is wearing very similar equipment, she looks not dissimilar to fire fighters, apart from a helmet, she’s been wearing a full face mask and goggles, all things that would allow someone to blend in from a distance, and as the fires have now been burning for some days, there’s plenty of time to obtain kit from a huge city like LA.
Do you REALLY believe this and do you REALLY think it’s good idea to spread such shite? No wonder social media is such a cesspit…
I don’t think anyone has said these looters are stealing stuff from millionaires,
Well my comment was responding to this claim :
Looters dressed as fire fighters are looting the homes of the rich and famous apparently.
Also, they’re looting from active fire areas, wearing highly inflammable synthetics is stupid
I totally agree, it would of course be stupid. It does indeed make sense for the looters to take health and safety considerations seriously. I am just a tad surprised that they chosen to be fully kitted out with fire fighters PPE from eBay.
I am also a tad surprised that online orders are currently still getting delivered in Southern California.
I am just a tad surprised that they chosen to be fully kitted out with fire fighters PPE from eBay.
Perhaps you could contact the LA Sheriff who was on BBC 6 o’clock News a little while ago, who actually stopped and spoke to a fully kitted out firefighter sitting by the side of the road, he asked the bloke if he was ok, and needed any help, water or anything, then realised the bloke was sitting in handcuffs, he was a looter who’d been apprehended and arrested, the Sheriff said he looked just like all the other fire fighters.
Are you still going to argue the toss with a senior law enforcement officer with first hand knowledge? Seriously?
Perhaps you could contact the LA Sheriff who was on BBC 6 o’clock News a little while ago
Why, how is he going to make me less surprised?
FWIW firefighter kit is readily available to buy by the public in the US - many firefighters are volunteers for fire departments in rural areas and they like to purchase their own kit, particularly the latest fabrics/better protection. Consequently, there’s a healthy market in used stuff too. Lots of volunteer firefighters are coming from across the Pacific Northwest to help, so wearing a Hicksville, OR fire dept jacket isn’t going to look suspicious. I spent a number of years in the fire and industrial safety sector.
It’s an area that voted democrat.
During his last administration Trump intended to withhold federal aid to California after Hurricane Helene on account of state being democrat - and therefore people who didn't vote of him. The National Security Council had to look up figures, area by area, and demonstrate to the president how many Trump voters were amongst the victims in each 'democrat' county - they had to explain to him there were more Trump voters in Orange County alone - just that one county - than in the the whole of the state of IOWA. There are almost as many Trump voters in California as there are in Texas or Florida. It was only on that basis that he was persuaded to sanction aid.
I don't think it was Hurricane Helene, that was last year in Florida. There was another Helene in the late 50s.
FWIW firefighter kit is readily available to buy by the public in the US – many firefighters are volunteers for fire departments in rural areas and they like to purchase their own kit, particularly the latest fabrics/better protection.
Weirdly enough I have two friends in California. Both live in Orange County now.
One of them grew up in Bel Air, about 5km east of the Pallisades fire eastern edge. She actually runs a workwear company specialising in fireproof workwear (mainly for linesman i think). Ironically her previous warehouse burnt down!
Meanwhile Mr Luna, the county sheriff, said there had so far been approximately 29 arrests amid the fires, including a man posing as a firefighter to burgle a home.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz0l4pkrrm9o
So as Countzero says some truth in it, although no reports they were carrying an 80" flat screen telly at the time
This is a very interesting article in the LA Times
I don’t think it was Hurricane Helene, that was last year in Florida. There was another Helene in the late 50s.
Sorry - mixing up my biblical plagues.
It was during the aftermath of Helene that the story came to light - Trump was accusing Biden of not aiding red states, doing his usual projection thing - thats when members of NSC revealed Trumps actions when in office - it was the 2018 wild fires in California that Trump was withholding aid for.
Given that California's GDP makes it the 5th or 6th biggest economy in the world I find this a bit strange
https://variety.com/2025/music/news/live-nation-fire-aid-benefit-concert-intuit-dome-1236272085/
Also, the earlier comments about people who have lost everything might be okay as they are in the US, Trump's politicisation of this will no doubt limit any federal aid for California (even though they should be able to pay for the recovery themselves).
It's awful
I find this a bit strange
Don't forget the arts, and an event like this especially, aren't just about money. It can also about people coming together. It can be about reflection on what has been lost. It can be a celebration of what still is. It can help people gain perspective, and hope.
it’s a country with the political and financial influence to have prevented (or slowed) climate change if it’d wanted to, and has the financial capacity to put things right now.
Nah, the USA is not like that. It's a juggernaut that's out of control. Just because it has a government doesn't mean anyone's in control of the country as a whole.
I’ve just read something about the extent of the fires so far, and done a quick comparison with somewhere I know that isn’t too far away, and it rather puts this into perspective:
LA fires - extent so far - 62 sq mi / 160 sq km
Eaton + Palisades fires 59 sq mi / 153 sq km
Bristol city and county 40 sq mi / 110 sq km
Just trying to imagine the whole of the city and county completely destroyed!
[img] 
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Christ, it’s a great area than Manchester - 45 sq mi / 116 sq km
Not bigger than Greater London. Yet.
Yup staggering .........a total of 121 sq miles, that is 77,440 acres !
Imagine though nearly nearly half a million acres going up in smoke:
"Since the start of September, over 180,000 hectares ( 444,789 acres) of dry forest and savannah have gone up in smoke around Cerro Chovoreca, a protected reserve near the border with Bolivia."
'The Earth is crying out for help’: as fires decimate South America, smoke shrouds its skies
Edit : Sorry my figure may have been somewhat misleading, the total area destroyed by fire in South America last year was over 212 million acres, although I don't think that the fires have all been extinguished yet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_South_American_wildfires
Wow, you should probably start a thread about that!
UK ~24million hectares
Australian fires 2019/20 ~24 million hectares
South American fires 2024 ~86 million hectares!
LA fires ~16,000 hectares (currently) - but probably lots more humans directly impacted.
I think this is possibly the latest update from yesterday…
This bit caught my eye:
Crews from California and nine other states are part of the ongoing response that includes nearly 1,400 fire engines, 84 aircraft and more than 14,000 personnel, including newly arrived firefighters from Mexico.
It’s not obvious from footage and photos just how many aircraft are operating within LA airspace, 84 is astonishing. Then all the other emergency teams.
but probably lots more humans directly impacted.
I'm not sure about that. I think the difference is more that unlike Hollywood which everyone knows about most people probably haven't heard of Porto Velho
For Porto Velho’s 500,000 residents the blazes have been suffocating. “We’re breathing in so much detritus,” said its health secretary, Marilene Penati, a pediatrician.
And hopefully the L.A. fires won't exceed the 148 confirmed dead in the South American fires.
Sounds serious, maybe you should start a thread if you want people to hear about it.
Nah, it's not very important. Just an observation about the size because a comparison was made with Bristol.
My wifes cousin live in Altadena, we have been getting regular updates from him. He can account for 42 of their friends who have lost houses.
He is saying that there is incredible energy and optimism to re-build and, in some cases, insurance companies have already been wiring money through. That is all lovely but how on earth do you cut through regulations, find trades people and building materials to reconstruct a minimum of 10k properties in just that one town? And, even if you do re-build, who on earth is going to be able to afford the future insurance premiums? A huge amount of businesses have also stopped trading and unemployment is going to be a big issue. Not everyone in the area are super rich celebrities.
Good time to be a carpenter, plumber or sparkie.....!