Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Year : 2, Issue: 20
AFP: Search teams with dogs fanned out looking for victims in Los Angeles on Monday, as firefighters girded for hurricane-force winds that could spark new blazes.
With the disaster in America’s second biggest city in its seventh day, 24 people are known to have died — a toll expected to rise — and more than 90,000 people remain displaced.
But the first glimmers of normal life have begun to re-emerge.
Schools — shuttered since roaring winds spread flames through whole communities — re-opened, while the beloved Los Angeles Lakers basketball team was set to play Monday night.
However, with strong Santa Ana winds returning, California officials were bracing for new problems.
Forecasters say “extremely critical fire weather conditions” were developing in the region, and would last until Wednesday, with winds already gusting to 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour in parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
“Not only will these extreme and dangerous conditions make fighting ongoing fires much more difficult, but these will make new ignitions much more likely,” the National Weather Service said.
Fire investigation experts combed the wreckage looking for clues to what caused the blazes, with residents desperate for answers and social media overflowing with unsubstantiated videos showing everything from hikers to power lines seemingly at fault.
While wildfires can be deliberately ignited, they are often natural and a vital part of an environment’s life cycle.
But urban sprawl puts people more frequently in harm’s way, and the changing climate — supercharged by humanity’s unchecked use of fossil fuels — is exacerbating the conditions that give rise to destructive blazes.
