Lessons for all in LA bushfires

There is an ominous warning for everyone in the deadly bushfires that have brought terror to California. Raging infernos have been whipped up by winds that blow hot air from the desert interior all the way to the well-heeled enclaves that hug the Pacific Ocean coastline. The warning is that natural cycles will repeat themselves with varying degrees of intensity. And it is important to be prepared. What has made the current fires in California so terrifying is the fact that the Santa Ana winds – which blow hot air west – have arrived on the heels of two extremely rainy years that spurred the growth of brush and grasses. Southern California experienced a particularly hot summer in 2024, followed by almost no rain during the wet season, which began in October. Those dried-out plants are now serving as fuel for the bushfires.

Politicians have been negligent in their preparations, evidenced by the lack of fuel-reduction efforts and inadequate supplies of water to fight the fires. This has led to an outbreak of political hostilities between old sparring partners Donald Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom. It is a spat that started in 2019 when Mr Trump accused Mr Newsom of doing “a terrible job” of forest management. “I told him from the first day we met that he must ‘clean’ his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him,” Mr Trump said.

This week, Californian residents caught up in the latest blaze are telling media that little has been done since. The owner of the Pacific Palisades shopping centre, where the fires are most intense, said: “The brush up in these hills controlled by the city and county, I would bet you they haven’t been handled, mitigated, pruned or removed for probably 30 or 40 years. This was a disaster waiting to happen.”

Australian officials must take note. Fuel loads have built up dramatically since the nation’s last devastating fire season caught global headlines in the summer of 2019-20. It is only a matter of time before weather conditions here are ripe for a repeat of deadly fires. Now is the time to make sure we are ready for when the inevitable happens.