Editorial: Climate scientists warned us about the Los Angeles fires – is this just the beginning?

Editorial

News about the devastating fires in Los Angeles, California have dominated headlines over the last few days, with multiple fatalities and large-scale devastation across the state.

For days, the fires that raged across Los Angeles County remained out of control, as firefighters battled strong winds and struggled to stop the flames.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the inferno ravaging the county. January is supposed to be the coldest and wettest month in California – yet the state has been going through a drought that only exacerbated the devastation of the last few days.

While the cause of the Los Angeles wildfires remains unclear, similar extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more destructive, such as the recent floods in Spain or the chaos caused by Hurricane Milton in Florida. These events are becoming more common all over the world and data does not show any signs of this trend slowing down.

A woman walks along a street full of mud and waste from houses after heavy rain and flooding hit large parts of the country on November 2, 2024 in Valencia, Spain's Paiporta municipality. Photo / Getty Images

2024 was the first year in which that symbolic 1.5C warming threshold we have heard about for years was surpassed. It was the world’s hottest year on record, capping off the hottest decade ... so far. Climate disasters in 2024 cost more than US$300 billion ($536.29b), according to some estimates.

With climate sceptic Donald Trump about to take office again as President of the United States and a deadline looming for nations to commit to deeper cuts to rising levels of greenhouse gases, 2025 is not looking promising.

Research shows fossil fuels and greenhouse gases are responsible for supercharging heatwaves worldwide. Nations agreed to transition away from fossil fuels at a United Nations summit in 2023, but struggled at the latest meeting in November to make any progress around how exactly those reductions will happen. In the meantime, disasters keep happening and people keep dying.

Kathryn Barger, chairwoman of the LA Board of Supervisors, said in a news conference last week that “wildfires do not care about jurisdictional boundaries”.

Wildfires, floods and other climate disasters also do not care about national borders, who you vote for, how much money you have in the bank, or whether or not we believe said events are putting us all at risk.

Cars belonging to the Altadena Auto Centre dealership, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, remain parked in a lot in Altadena, Los Angeles on January 10, 2025. Photo / AFP

We need to do something to address the issue before it comes knocking on all our doors, before we’re the ones filming the flames on our cellphones and uploading them to social media with pleas for help.

We need a global solution, which first requires all those in charge to admit there is a problem. For many, including those in LA who have died or who survived but were left with nothing, action “now” will have been too late.