Recently, the LA fires have been taking the world by storm. Homes and businesses are being destroyed. Lives are being destroyed, and lives are being taken. These fires are getting more and more serious as people have had to evacuate Los Angeles. There are many opportunities to raise awareness and money for the people and businesses of Los Angeles, but with the amount of fires in LA, it’s not going to be easy to repair California.
California has a history of fires, most recently progressing in 1987. Since then, over 500,000 acres of land have been burned. In 2018, a huge fire was caused by the 2018 Camp Fire. This is the deadliest fire in state history. The Camp Fire destroyed around 18,000 structures and killed 85 people.
The wildfires in Los Angeles have killed at least 24 people, including kids and adults. Burning through 40,000 acres, destroying more than 12,300 structures. The fire expanded, threatening Brentwood, Encino, and Westwood, California. The Palisades Fire spread fast with winds and large patches of dry land, so that is why so many acres of land are being burned.
The cause of these fires has not been publicly identified. Officials think people used fireworks on New Year’s Day. It remains unclear whether this earlier fire had anything to do with the Palisades Fire that would consume an area of land about the size of Miami. Some people think the fire may have happened due to less rain, oil, gas, and car engines could probably cause the fire. Some people might have had a campfire and didn’t put the fire out all the way, and it could hit a tree and set it on fire.
Due to the fires in California, many charities are holding fundraisers to raise money and gather resources for the people and businesses of California. For example; the California Community Foundation Wildfire Recovery Fund. Contributions will go toward the most impacted who can be overlooked in traditional relief efforts. A few more examples are the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, the Los Angeles Police Foundation, Support A GoFundMe, the Red Cross, and Some businesses that are simply providing food supplies just to give people free food.
All anyone can hope for right now is that the people of LA and the rest of California are safe. At the rapid speed at which these fires were spreading, everyone needed to help restore the community. Climate change is a big issue and a big cause of many fires, so keeping the environment clean will help reduce the amount of fires every year. The U.S. can’t thank fire marshalls enough for what they are doing for California. Hopefully, these fires will end soon, and California will be safe again. As of this morning (January 30th), crews are nearing full containment on the Hughes, Palisades, and Eaton fires, according to Fox LA.
