The reasons why the LA wildfires are so devastating this year, and who to blame for them
Los Angeles residents performed a citizens’ arrest, restraining a suspected arsonist they say was wielding a “flamethrower” but police say it might not be what it looks like.
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A homeless man zip-tied by concerned citizens after he was seen lighting fires on a Los Angeles street with a torch has yet to be charged with arson, Los Angeles cops said Friday — while stressing they are still investigating the disturbing incident.
The man was cornered and tied up by residents of Woodland Hills on Thursday afternoon after they allegedly saw him riding his bike around and lighting old Christmas trees and debris on fire with what one resident described as a “flamethrower.”
Police soon arrived and took the man — who has still not been identified — into custody.
However, there was not enough evidence to charge him with arson, LAPD Assistant Chief Dominic Choi told reporters on Friday.
Major crimes divisions from LAPD and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office interviewed the man, Chief Choi said.
“After the interview and additional investigative steps looking at some additional evidence that was present they made the determination that there was not enough probable cause to arrest this person on arson or suspicion on arson,” Chief Choi said.
He was arrested on a felony probation violation and the investigation is ongoing, police said.
“I’d like to thank those community members that were involved in helping bring this person to our attention,” Chief Choi said.
Officials have not yet determined the cause for any of the wildfires that have scorched more than 35,000 acres in and around Los Angeles, destroying thousands of structures and killing at least 10 people.
The unidentified man, who is believed to be homeless, was riding his bicycle in the Woodland Hills area near where the Kenneth Fire continues to rage, allegedly setting alight rubbish bins and old Christmas trees which residents had placed out on the street for disposal.
The tool he was allegedly using to light the fires is a blowtorch or propane tank also known as a flamethrower which was later found in the gutter.
A neighbour who caught the arrest on camera posted the video to her Instagram account.
“Neighbour spotted a man behind a van trying to ignite a blow torch,” the Instagram user posted.
“One heroic neighbour stopped his car mid street and started yelling “STOP HIM HE’S TRYING TO START A FIRE.
“Our entire neighbourhood ran out and were able to detain him with zip ties and rope until police arrived.
“Thank you @lapdwestvalley for your quick response!!”
WHERE ARE THE WILDFIRES ON THE MAP?
Five wind-driven fires are burning through Los Angeles County as more than 150,000 people are under evacuation orders.
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection these are the latest updates:
Palisades fire: 21,317 acres, 8% contained
Eaton fire: 14,117 acres, 3% contained
Kenneth fire: 1,052 acres, 50% contained
Hurst fire: 771 acres, 70% contained
Lidia fire: 395 acres, 98% contained
Archer fire: 19 acres, 0% contained
HOW DID THEY SPREAD SO FAST?
Winter brings the infamous Santa Ana winds to California and this time they’ve been clocked at an eye watering 161km/h in mountainous areas of the state.
Not only are the winds fanning the flames, but these ultra dry gusts which are blowing in from America’s desert interior are causing the humidity to drop and further drying out vegetation making it prone to catching fire.
Historically, wildfire season begins in July and ends around late November to early December. But in this case, the area has the driest conditions that are a perfect trigger for igniting and burning vegetation.
The National Weather Service’s Los Angeles office issued a red flag alert this week the first in January since 2021, according to the LA Times.
“November, December, now January − there’s no fire season, it’s fire year. It’s year-round,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said at a press conference.
WHO IS COPPING THE BLAME?
Big Hollywood names have started to turn on California’s and Los Angeles’ leaders, including Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom, over what is being claimed are botched responses to the wildfires raging across the celebrity-filled Pacific Palisades and surrounding areas.
Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar led the charge, criticising the Democratic leadership on Instagram for failing to direct the tens of thousands of Southern California residents trying to flee as the fires burned uncontained Wednesday.
“City of LA you want everyone to evacuate yet you have complete gridlock and not one traffic cop on the roads helping,” Gellar wrote, tagging Mayor Bass and the city of Los Angeles.
The Palisades Fire has been ravaging the celebrity-dotted neighbourhood since Tuesday and has burned a horrifying 17,234 acres over the past 36 hours.
Actor James Woods, who lost his home in the Palisades fire, vented on X that the wildfires weren’t caused by “climate change” but by “liberal idiots like Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass.”
“One doesn’t understand the first thing about fire management and the other can’t fill the water reservoirs,” he added.
In a separate post, Woods wrote, “I took this last night from our beautiful little home in the Palisades. Now all the fire alarms are going off at once remotely. It tests your soul, losing everything at once, I must say.”
Actress Sara Foster also took to X.
“Our fire hydrants were empty. Our vegetation was overgrown, brush not cleared. Our reservoirs were emptied by our governor because tribal leaders wanted to save fish. Our fire department budget was cut by our mayor. But thank god drug addicts are getting their drug kits,” she wrote.
The politically active actor, who is the daughter of music mogul David Foster, called on Mayor Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom to resign, writing, “your far left policies have ruined our state. And also our party.”
Zachary Levi also ripped into Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass for their handling of the crisis.
“This is just incredible mismanagement, incredibly poor leadership. I would go so far as to saying that it’s criminally negligent because, I mean, Gavin Newsom has been either the governor for five years or lieutenant governor prior to that for eight, nine years, some of the worst fires we’ve ever had in California under that watch. He clearly knows that the biggest problem that we suffer in California are these fires. And, by the way, the mudslides that follow,” Levi said on Jesse Watters Primetime.
Meanwhile, incoming US president Donald Trump has launched political attacks on outgoing President Joe Biden and California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom.
Mr Trump even went so far as to claim Governor Newsom chose to save an extinct tiny fish species, instead of sending more water to southern California.
Mr Trump raged that the Democratic governor blocked an order that would have diverted more water from the much wetter north to the state’s parched regions “including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.”
“One of the best and most beautiful parts of the United States of America is burning down to the ground. It’s ashes, and Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!” Trump said on his Truth Social network late Wednesday local time.
Trump — who habitually uses the nickname “Newscum” to disparage a governor widely seen as a future Democratic presidential hopeful — returned to the subject on Thursday morning as the blazes continued to rage.
Without providing evidence to back his claims, Mr Trump variously accused Mr Newsom of “incompetence” in managing the fires and of wasting water in drought-hit California.
The California governor strongly rejected Trump’s claims in an interview with CNN.
“People are literally fleeing … This guy wanted to politicise it. I have a lot of thoughts and I know what I want to say. I won’t,” Mr Newsom said.
Mr Trump also laid into outgoing President Joe Biden on Wednesday saying in inauguration on January 20 “cannot come fast enough.”
“Let this serve, and be emblematic, of the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the Biden/Newscum Duo,” he said.
Mr Trump also accused Mr Biden of diverting money to “Green New Scam” climate policies instead of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Mr Biden has repeatedly denied steering funds away from FEMA.
The fires have also seen Trump’s surrogates launch attacks on Democrats.
The world’s richest man Elon Musk, a key Trump ally, took to his social network X to link the disaster to a variety of factors — all without providing proof — including diversity hires among firefighters and the sending of aid to Ukraine.
WHY ISN’T THERE ENOUGH WATER TO STOP THE BLAZE?
A legacy of terrible fire management by the state of California and Governor Gavin Newsom hangs over the smoky skies of LA, the New York Post reports.
LA’s water system simply could not handle the demand of the multiple blazes — which was four times normal and last for 15 hours, Janisse Quiñones, the head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, told the LA Times.
The city has 114 massive water tanks that store water for and help ensure consistent flow. All were full when the fire started Tuesday. Three 1 million-gallon tanks supply the hydrants in the Pacific Palisades.
The first was empty before 5pm local time.
The last was drained by 3am local time Wednesday, Quiñones said.
Without the water tanks, the city’s system was simply not able to maintain pressure to the hydrants.
Fire crews were then forced to watch as entire blocks of the Pacific Palisades — one of the most scenic and celeb-packed neighbourhoods in LA — were incinerated.
“There’s no water in the fire hydrants,” Rick Caruso, who owns the Palisades Village mall in the heart of the devastated area, told local media.
“The firefighters are there, and there’s nothing they can do — we’ve got neighbourhoods burning, homes burning, and businesses burning. … It should never happen.”
The water shortage was the result of years of mismanagement of LA’s water system — including a federal indictment of a leader and high profile resignations — as well as major operational problems that drained reserves too quickly.
BUT HASN’T CALIFORNIA HAD GOOD RAINFALL RECENTLY?
Yes, but that’s not always a good thing.
Two above average years of rain followed by a dry winter is a disaster waiting to happen in terms of fire risk.
The thick foliage which has prospered in past seasons has dried out creating abundant fuel for the out-of-control blazes.
And the rainfall which has hit the ground in recent months has been sporadic.
While northern California got a good soaking, other parts of the state experienced their driest season in 150 years.
Even before the fires started, the National Weather Service had issued its highest alert for extreme fire conditions for much of Los Angeles County.
IS CLIMATE CHANGE TO BLAME?
Some experts think so.
According to a study released last year by the US National Integrated Drought Information System, fires in California are getting steadily worse.
The study found 10 of the largest ever wildfires to hit California have occurred in the past 20 years – fire of which happened in 2020.
The researchers concluded human-caused climate change has seen the amount of land which is razed annually by fires spike 172 per cent in the past half a century.
Even more terrifying is it is projected to only get worse.
“Climate change is leading to larger and more severe wildfires in the western United States,” the 2023 National Climate Assessment reported.
Warmer temperatures create conditions that make fires more dangerous, the assessment stated.
Jon Keeley, a senior research scientist with the US Geological Survey, previously told USA TODAY climate change isn’t the only reason for the increase in large fires.
In California, Keely said population growth and the Santa Ana winds are bigger factors in wildfires.
These factors don’t appear to be affected by climate change now, and climate change is likely to be a bigger driver in the northern part of the state rather than the south, he added.
IS THE FIRE DEPARTMENT COPING?
The Los Angeles Fire Department is stretched to the max.
The White House has stepped in and is deploying assets including firefighting helicopters, air tankers and dozens of additional trucks.
The LAFD had its budget cut by a staggering A$28.3 million this financial year, records show.
The drastic decrease in funding for the fire department was the second-largest cut to come out of embattled Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass‘ 2024-25 fiscal year budget, according to city figures.
- with New York Post
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