Bare wood splintered and cracked, deep streaks of crimson running through it like raw, bleeding veins. The choking scent of the ashes mingled with something deeper, something more intimate — the leather of an old armchair, the faint scent of coffee from the kitchen, the pages of old books that had been read and re-read. The blazing fire scorched our hearts with the same ferocity, turning the City of Angels into a hellscape.
The Los Angeles (LA) wildfires began with with the Palisades fire, which erupted the morning of Jan. 7 in Pacific Palisades as a mere brush fire. Evacuation orders were issued for that fire and by evening, the Eaton fire in Altadena had begun. The Hughes fire near Castaic Lake in northern Los Angeles County was first reported on the morning of Jan. 22. These devastating blazes had engulfed over 47,000 acres of land by the time they were fully or nearly contained.
One might expect that sweltering summers would present the most significant threat of wildfires. However, climate change has ushered in a new era of "weather whiplash," an erratic pattern of intensely wet then dry weather, which poses fire dangers.
In an email to The News-Letter, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science and Wind Energy Dr. Julie K. Lundquist explained how this “whiplash” is tied to climate change.
"Southern California has been grappling with a prolonged drought with extremely dry vegetation; this is a La Niña year which often brings dry conditions to SoCal. The previous year, there had been a lot of rain due to a strong El Niño event, leading to the growth of a lot of vegetation that was dry," she said.
Southern California has increasingly fallen victim to this phenomenon, with the winters of 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 being unusually wet, fostering the explosion of new vegetation across the region. The subsequent summer and autumn months rapidly desiccated this vegetation, creating the ideal conditions for devastating wildfires.
In an interview with The News-Letter, Dr. Jerry Burgess, a geo-ecologist and associate teaching professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Hopkins, shared how weather whiplash is worsened by ecological factors, such as invasive vegetation, and potential steps that could be taken.
"Invasive species exacerbate the problem, acting as dry fuel for these fires. A return to native species and better management of fuel loads could help mitigate the risks,“ he stated.
The dry season has continued to stretch out. Normally, rain would have fallen in Southern California before January, quenching the plants and mitigating the threat of fire. The longer the dry spell extends into the winter and fall months, the more overlap it has with the Santa Ana wind season.
Originating from high-pressure systems over the Great Basin, the Santa Ana winds are hot, dry gusts that funnel through mountain passes toward the coast. These powerful winds were the final kindling for this tinderbox. Capable of accelerating to hurricane speeds, these winds can spread embers with intensity, igniting new spot fires in their wake and making wildfires nearly impossible to contain.
"Santa Ana winds are a regular feature of Southern California’s climate. But with prolonged drought and increasingly dry vegetation, even small ignitions can turn into full-scale disasters," Dr. Lundquist elaborated.
The winds also pose significant challenges for firefighting efforts, rendering it perilous for water and fire retardant dropping aircraft to safely operate over active fires.
In an email to The News-Letter, Dr. Benjamin Zaitchik, the Morton K. Blaustein Chair and professor of the University’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, emphasized the impact of a changing global climate on the fires.
"We know that rising temperatures contribute to longer fire seasons and drier conditions. While climate change is not the only factor, it certainly acts as a stressor that heightens wildfire risk," Zaitchik explained.
Extreme heat can give rise to pyrocumulonimbus clouds. These unstable formations can not only intensify fire spread by producing erratic winds but can also lead to lightning strikes that spark additional blazes.
While the fires of 2025 have left devastation in their wake, experts at Hopkins believe that proactive strategies can mitigate future disasters. On an individual level, homeowners can take steps to reduce fire risks by clearing flammable vegetation around their properties, using fire-resistant materials to construct their homes, and installing vents that close during fires to prevent embers from entering.
“Small but crucial design changes — such as fire-resistant roofing — can help protect homes from ember storms," Dr. Lundquist noted.
On a broader scale, communities must rethink their approach to urban development. Strategies such as controlled burns (the intentional burning of vegetation to reduce fuel for wildfires), mechanical thinning (the selective removal of trees and shrubs to decrease fire intensity), and non-vegetated buffer zones can also help prevent catastrophic fire spread.
“We are building in places that are at high fire risk. One response is to stop expanding into these zones, but when that is not feasible, we must invest in strong fire prevention design," Zaitchik argued.
Beyond urban planning, addressing climate change — the root cause of extreme weather events — is essential. Lundquist underscored that reducing greenhouse gas emissions will lessen the extreme weather patterns fueling these wildfires. Similarly, Zaitchik highlighted that climate change has been a key driver of the severity and frequency of wildfires and must be accounted for.
"While climate change is not the sole cause of any given fire, it amplifies the conditions that make wildfires more likely and severe," he agreed.
The LA fires of 2025 were not just an extreme weather event — they were a wake-up call. A collision of extreme weather, urban sprawl, and climate change created a firestorm of unprecedented ferocity, leaving scars on the land and in our hearts.
Yet, there is still hope. Through better landscape management, fire-resilient infrastructure, and a commitment to reducing our carbon footprint, we can work towards a future where fire seasons are less catastrophic. In the smoldering ashes of these fires lies an opportunity, a chance to build a future where the infernos of today do not define the world of tomorrow.
Zaitchik concluded, "Wildfires have always been part of California’s landscape, but the scale and frequency we are witnessing now are different. We must address this new reality with scientific foresight and strategic resilience.”
