The Fire Still Burns
LA firefighters (with help from around the state and around the world) have finally made some good progress containing the multiple, devastating fires that have scorched the region. That’s the good news. The ominous news is that more fierce Santa Ana winds are in the forecast. CNN: At least 24 killed as returning winds threaten to undo progress. And another headline weary Los Angelinos really don’t want to see from the LA Times: Increasing winds bring potential for ‘explosive fire growth’ across L.A. County this week.
+ “To live here, alongside the Santa Monica Mountains, in the flightpath of Santa Ana winds, is either to accept fire as part of the ecology, as natural as the Pacific’s waves, or to live in denial.” In GQ (Gift Article), Rosecrans Baldwin, a resident and excellent chronicler of LA, reflects on this moment. “To live in LA, even if you never leave your neighborhood, is to live in Greater Los Angeles, to know you reside in one of the world’s largest megacities, a mountainous, immense plaited landscape—Los Angeles County alone constitutes 88 separate cities, from Beverly Hills to Azusa—that unfurls in all directions. And one that also burns recurrently.”
+ “Predictably, thousands of people on social networks have suddenly become experts in large-scale fire prevention. Some people are convinced the Palisades was lost because of too little water pressure, too few firefighters, an offline reservoir, insufficient controlled burns, a mayor who happened to be on a trip, a losing mayoral candidate who allegedly would have prevented the whole thing, a firefighting budget that was supposedly cut but really was not, and yes, even DEI programs. My meteorologist dad is now 90 years old, and still in perfect intellectual health. I went to visit him and my mom this weekend, and we talked a little bit about the fires and this formative piece of our lives that had been completely destroyed a few days earlier.” Mike Davidson (and his meteorologist dad) on the community, the risks, the fires, and what, if anything, can be done to stop this kind of destruction. 47 Years Later, The Palisades Disappeared Overnight.
+ “The disgraced conspiracy theorist Alex Jones claimed on X that the fires were ‘part of a larger globalist plot to wage economic warfare and deindustrialize the United States before trigger total collapse.’ … ‘True,’ Elon Musk wrote in a response to Jones.” The truth, it turns out, is even more flammable than tinder. And among other things, the LA fires may be known as the last stand of Meta’s fact checkers. Soon to be out of a job, Meta’s fact-checkers battle a blaze of wildfire conspiracy theories.
+ Amid the ashes, there are still sparks of community and inspiration. Here’s just one of many examples. A Los Angeles Teen Started a Recovery Fund for Wildfire Victims. Now It’s a Movement.
+ If you want to support those facing and fighting the fires, here are some organizations doing the work.
