As the New Year of 2025 began, fires broke out all along Pacific Palisades and the Los Angeles areas. These fires have caused massive damages to the local wildlife, buildings and infrastructure, and has already caused the death of 25 people. Massive evacuations are underway as the fires spread and get closer to urban areas. Complete neighborhoods are destroyed with nothing but ashes and chimneys left for the people returning and over 12,300 structures have been destroyed. While many spectate the cause of these fires, they are still active and burning fiercely.
The fires originally started on Jan. 7 with the Palisades Fire starting out as 23,000 acres of land coverage and the Eaton Fire starting out with over 14,000 acres of land coverage. Since then, there’s been several smaller fires, like the Hurst Fire and Auto Fire, which are still currently active and causing people to evacuate their homes. Drew McClure, a fire inspector said that the fires “happen every year due to the dry conditions and the severe winds that come off of the Pacific Ocean.” These winds pick up embers and charred ash that still has an active flame in them and spread them. McClure also says that these fires are “difficult to both predict and contain once they arise.” It’s highly unlikely that the fire season there is far from over.
With the fires hitting close to high profile film shooting locations, people have wonder what affects the fires would have on future movie productions. When Wharton High School theatre teacher Trevor Mikell was asked this, he responded “Malibu is definitely a high-profile place to shoot and so any films/shows planning on shooting in location will definitely be delayed for months.” While some filming in certain locations would be delayed till the fires are over and reconstruction is finished, the effect would mostly be felt on the actors but not their ability to get to other film sets.
People are coming home from the mandated evacuations to find nothing but chimneys marking the place their homes once were. Hundreds and thousands of people are suddenly being left homeless with worries about how they are going to pay for the millions in dollars of damage done. Most residents are shocked to find that State Farm, one of the biggest insurers in California, previously canceled hundreds of homeowners’ policies in the Palisades last summer. The company tried to justify their move by claiming it was an attempt to prevent a “financial failure” in areas that are high-risk for severe wildfires. It was reported that State Farm canceled over 72,000 policies with over 1,600 of those being in the Palisades. While State Farm isn’t the only insurer to cut coverage in these high-risk areas, California’s FAIR (Fair Access to Insurance Requirements) plan acts as a last resort for residents and has doubled its policies since 2020.
While the fires still burn, recovery efforts are already in progress. Air tankers carrying a special mixture of water and red retardant have come from both Mexico and Canada was a means to stop the spread of the fires and put them out. Not to mention that firefighters are constantly working day and night to help with evacuations, cleanup, and preventing the spread of the fires. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) has also allocated over $100 million for the cleanup process and to get the surviving population safely back to their homes. 