Why is Los Angeles burning?

Climate change, extreme weather and budget deficits have created a “perfect storm”

Much of southern California, including the Los Angeles metropolitan area with a population of almost 13 million people, has been engulfed in fires since January 7. Ten deaths are already known; about 180 thousand people were in the evacuation zone. Several prestigious areas burned down, including the homes of many celebrities. The fire has reached the Hollywood Hills and is threatening the main Los Angeles landmarks - the Hollywood sign, Sunset Boulevard and the Walk of Fame. Fires are not uncommon in California, but they haven't been this destructive in years. Several circumstances coincided and a “perfect storm” occurred.

Drought

Actually, it's rainy season in California. But there has been almost no rain since the spring of 2024.

Disruption of the usual seasonality is a consequence of climate change, says an article by a group of American climatologists published on January 9 in the authoritative scientific journal Nature. Dry weather has prevailed in California for several years. There was a lot of rain in 2022 and 2023. This contributed to the rapid growth of grasses, shrubs and trees. And then came the drought year 2024 - all the vegetation quickly dried out and became ideal fuel for fires.

Wind

In January 2025, a special natural phenomenon occurred - the Santa Ana wind. This is the so-called katabatic, or falling wind: it blows from the highlands in the interior of the continent to the valleys where the cities are located, and carries hot, dry air as well as dust from the desert.

Santa Ana winds in December and January are not uncommon, as is the fact that they fan wildfires. This time it turned out to be especially strong - in some places up to 45 meters per second (this corresponds to the second of five categories of hurricanes according to the classification of the American National Hurricane Center).

The wind has not yet subsided, and this significantly complicates the localization of fires.

Fire Department Failure

The unpreparedness of Los Angeles firefighters for an emergency has already become the subject of political speculation. To the point that US President-elect Donald Trump blames what is happening on personnel policies aimed at ensuring social diversity in work teams. Allegedly, instead of the most competent people, they hire representatives of different racial, sexual and gender identities according to quotas - and as a result, there is no one to work.

In addition, many - and not just Trump supporters - have fiercely criticized Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for cutting the city's fire department budget by $23 million.

This is not entirely fair . In June 2024, when the budget was approved, the mayor's office had not yet completed negotiations with the firefighters' union on raising wages. The department subsequently received additional money from reserve funds in November, so its 2025 budget was actually $53 million higher than the year before.

Another thing is that this still turned out to be not enough - and could not be enough. Over the past few months, the head of the department, Christine Crowley, in anticipation of fires after a long drought, sent memos to the mayor in which she described the deplorable state of her department. Its staffing and facilities (including fire stations) have changed little since the 1960s, while Los Angeles has added a million residents in that time and the number of calls has increased fivefold. The firefighters needed not only money, but also time to correct the situation.

"Jellyfish"