The Los Angeles metropolitan area has been fighting off five wildfires as of Wednesday, forcing thousands to flee their homes and shutting down freeways throughout the Los Angeles area.
A new wildfire is raging near the 405 freeway in Los Angeles. Thousands have been forced to flee their homes as multiple fires continue to burn in Southern California.
Watch aerial video: https://t.co/lnNdHm4rmr
Live updates: https://t.co/JEZHszrGoy pic.twitter.com/rK8Mnj7V1O
— CNN (@CNN) December 6, 2017
my car ride to LAX 😱 pic.twitter.com/U29LTa9yAj
— Africa Miranda (@africamiranda) December 6, 2017
What we know about the California wildfires:
– 45,000 acres burned with 0% containment
– Nearly 8,000 homes under mandatory evacuation
– Ventura wildfire is now twice the size of Manhattan and isn't slowing
Latest updates: https://t.co/YwKk20aHRs pic.twitter.com/Xd9OzUNLxZ
— CNN (@CNN) December 5, 2017
LATEST: Fast-moving Southern California wildfire causes at least 1 death, forces thousands to flee their homes, authorities in Ventura County say. https://t.co/1PeBldjupA pic.twitter.com/Nn9lfdqhCk
— ABC News (@ABC) December 5, 2017
Huge Southern California wildfire moving rapidly, destroying all in its path. 1 person reported dead.
Certain however that governor Jerry Brown is more concerned this morning with how to let illegal immigrants off the hook for murder.#ThomasFire
— GRANT J. KIDNEY 🇺🇸 (@GrantJKidney) December 5, 2017
More than 27,000 California residents have been evacuated as a fast-moving wildfire spreads across Ventura County https://t.co/owNJjAYJKR pic.twitter.com/9tgzj1tyLA
— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 5, 2017
Ferocious winds in Southern California whipped up an explosive wildfire that quickly tripled in size, forcing the evacuation of thousands: https://t.co/HGQri9p0rH pic.twitter.com/ecDAto6MSa
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 5, 2017
More crews showing up to help with 50 acre #SkirballFire burning east of NB 405 near Mulholland. @KNX1070 pic.twitter.com/Ib4c5gdU0O
— Margaret Carrero (@KNXmargaret) December 6, 2017
A major interstate — I-405 — was closed as a result of what is being referred to as the Skirball Fire. The closure was confirmed by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. There are other fires burning simultaneously: The Thomas Fire has burned 65,000 acres; the Rye Fire burned 7,000 acres; and the Creek Fire torched 11,000 acres.
More than 7,700 homes in Ventura have been abandoned due to a mandatory evacuation order, according to the Los Angeles Times. One major concern is that winds could move the fires over to the cities of Santa Paula and Ventura, which are inhabited by roughly 140,000 people.
One factor exacerbating the California wildfires is climate change. Back when a series of wildfires ravaged northern California in October, Gov. Jerry Brown observed: “With a warming climate, dry weather and reducing moisture, these kinds of catastrophes have happened and will continue to happen and we have to be ready to mitigate, and it’s going to cost a lot of money.”
This assertion has been backed up by science, with recent research from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory revealing that California precipitation may drop by as much as 15 percentage points over the next two or three decades due to the decline in Arctic sea ice.
“As the climate warms, moisture and precipitation levels are changing, with wet areas becoming wetter and dry areas becoming drier,” explained the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Higher spring and summer temperatures and earlier spring snow-melt typically cause soils to be drier for longer, increasing the likelihood of drought and a longer wildfire season, particularly in the western United States.”
The Union of Concerned Scientists added, “These hot, dry conditions also increase the likelihood that, once wildfires are started by lightning strikes or human error, they will be more intense and long-burning.”
