At least five people are dead in the wildfires that are claiming a large part of the Pacific Palisades region of Los Angeles and nearby locations. As is their habit, the media are blaming climate change for this raging inferno. [emphasis, links added]
And some scientists, such as fire expert Jennifer Balch, blame warming conditions partially caused by the fact that the jet stream has dipped farther south than usual.
“Climate change, including increased heat, extended drought, and a thirsty atmosphere, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in the western United States,” said a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
But Jon Keeley, a scientist working for the US Geological Survey, says that just isn’t so.
Keeley has been studying the connection between various climatic conditions and fires for the past forty years.
“I don’t think these fires are the result of climate change,” he told Michael Shellenberger. “You certainly could get these events without climate change.”
Keeley correctly pointed out that the conditions causing this type of fire have existed for thousands of years in this part of California.
There have been many Januaries, he says, that were very dry, and other years that there were Santa Ana winds in January.
The only difference, he says, is the dramatic increase in the population of southern California in the last hundred years.
A study conducted in 2017 by Keeley and a team of scientists concluded that similar conditions have existed many times in the past.
“We’ve looked at the history of climate and fire throughout the whole state,” said Keeley, “and through much of the state, particularly the western half of the state, we don’t see any relationship between past climates and the amount of area burned in any given year.”
— Rothmus 🏴 (@Rothmus) January 9, 2025
This team of scientists has studied 37 climatic regions of the United States.
Another scientist, Daniel Swain, agrees with Keeley, saying there’s “no sure connection” between such fires and climate change. Fire Chief David Acuna pointed out that 95% of wildfires in that area have been started by humans.
These fires in the chaparral, fostered by drought conditions and Santa Ana winds, have been called the most destructive in Los Angeles history.
They have so far burned over 42 square miles, an area as large as the city of San Francisco. Over 130,000 people have been ordered to evacuate their homes.
At least 1,000 structures have been destroyed or damaged. Over a million people are without power. Estimated losses have exceeded $57 billion.
This unfortunate series of events will be long remembered in California history. But the conditions fostering such blazes have long existed, the only difference being that this time people got in the way.
Top image via Libs of TikTok / X
Hundreds of fascinating facts about the climate change scam can be found in Lynne Balzer’s richly illustrated book, Exposing the Great Climate Change Lie, available on Amazon.
This fire reminds me of a fire that got into the western side of Canberra Australia in 2003. Prior to that, the parks authorities used to fire bomb the valleys where there was an accumulation of dead material on the ground. this was done during winter to achievea slow but hot burn and it always worked to protect the city.
Later, the greens had these winter fire bombing stopped and no work was carried out to clear fire fuel and it just accumulated until 2003. A fire had been approaching the area west of Canberra along the southern part of the mountains and nothing was done to stop it. Who knows why? Accessibility perhaps?
It reached the forest behind Canberra and was able to mover very quickly towards the city and within hours, destroyed over 500 homes. A few people were killed and a space observatory was also destroyed on Mt Stomlo, along with a huge pine forest nearby. It was devastating.
Regardless of where we build our cities where people live and have all their posessions, authorities have a duty to ensure that city is safe from fire. Those people in California (and in Canberra) deserve to be punished for what they allowe to happen.
Minorities do not rule us. We do, through the people we vote for and they do what we want, not some long-hair idiot who owns nothing and is a professional protestor.
In the late 90’s my girlfiend (wife now) and I drove from SoCal to Yosemite. My first trip there. As we got closer, we saw fire smoke which was coming from more than one source. I was immediately concerned ( Born in Santa Barbara, grew up on the central coast and lived in Malibu for 12 years). I’ve seen some fires. Been evacuated from Malibu. Place burned to the ground on that one, and almost died the next year in a Malibu wildfire. I digress.
We get closer to our VRBO and we see Cal Fire who had spent thousands of hours sectioning deadfall with chainsaws, collecting it, and creating piles of loose growth and deadfall into piles for miles in the forest and they were “Control Burning” these piles.
Fire Prevention.
Present day, guess what #DoucheBag-In-Charge Gavin Newsom has been dropping the ball since 2019. This article is from 2021, they’re calling it the worst fire season in history.
They neglected fire prevention on purpose to blame it on climate change.
Newsom Misled The Public About Wildfire Prevention Efforts Ahead Of Worst Fire Season On Record
https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/06/23/newsom-misled-the-public-about-wildfire-prevention-efforts-ahead-of-worst-fire-season-on-record/