The Deadliest California Wildfires
By Ana Velasquez, January 17th 2025
Starting January 7th, 2025, said to be one of the deadliest natural disasters, fires have spread through 4.2 million acres of land, killing 24 people and leaving many homes burned down.
Southern California residents woke up to hazy skies and strong gusts of wind from 3 blazing fires (Hurst, Eaton, and Palisades). Over the week the fire had spread rapidly to nearby neighborhood in Los Angeles causing thousands to evacuate their homes and forcing wildlife to flee from the mountains.
Maps of the three wildfires including areas that are being evacuated.
Many residents evacuated their homes, leaving everything behind with no choice, their homes which they’ve worked so hard for, and children are left clueless of what is happening to their homes and schools.
” I’m trying to figure out how to tell my 3-year-old that we don’t have a home and we don’t have a school we don’t even know where to go- what to do next”, says the mother of the Altadena family, “We lost everything, including the sentimental things.”
Seeing the aftermath of the fires when they are allowed to return, many left heartbroken seeing remnants of their homes and pieces of their belongings.
Something to Know:
The California fires started by an ongoing drought going on in California and the Santa Anna winds which are warm and dry winds that causes vegetation to warm up and essentially cause fires.
The Palisades fire started near Pacific Palisade neighborhoods and has burned through more than 23,700 acres of land and has killed at least 8 people and seems to be spreading towards Brentwood.
The Easton fire started on the east side of near Pasadena and has killed at least 16 people, making it the deadliest fire in California history, burning 14,117 acres of land.
Not much is known about the Hurst fire other than it was started near San Fernando and has burned 799 acres of land.
Although the LA fire department has controlled 5 fires. The Santa Anna wind gusts are making fires worse especially considering the dry vegetation from the rainfall shortage happening in California.
In addition to firefighters from other U.S. states being sent to help California, Firefighters from Canada and Mexico made their way over to help California from more destruction. Being able to have more control of the fires.
Many have gone together to help survivors of the fires, donating clothes, making free food, and even helping the children by donating stuffed animals for comfort.
As of January 17th, 2025, the Easton fire is now 65% contained with 14,117 acres of land burned with 17 confirmed deaths and most residents are allowed to renter the area.
Temperatures are expected to be cooler over the weekend so but then overshadowed with dry weathers again with officials being cautious but so far seeing the calm after the storm.
