LA was sitting on a powder keg ripe for a fire after months of drought. Then it was lit
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EXCLUSIVE: Author John Vaillant tells The Independent that human-driven climate change has created dangerous wildfire conditions and thousands of ‘climate refugees’ in the city of Los Angeles. Southern California had faced drought for months, which helped create the right conditions for a massive fire. Then the Santa Ana wings moved in, and forecasters warned that settings were “about as bad as it gets in terms of fire weather.”.
![[A firefighter battles the Eaton Fire on Wednesday in Altadena, California. The blaze is now 3 percent contained]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/10/14/AP25008774192293.jpg)
This week, that environmental spark was lit and Los Angeles burned. Los Angeles has faced days of wildfires that have torn through communities, leaving 10 dead and unimaginable scenes of destruction. An award-winning author has shared with The Independent how the conditions had been forming for months and led to the spate of wildfires.
![[Fire-damaged vehicles are lined up at a dealership after the Eaton Fire on Wednesday in Altadena, California. Windy weather was expected to continue on Friday, fanning the flames]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/10/14/AP25008773231352.jpg)
Humidity below 10 percent, taking moisture from the air, was one of the main driving factors. Vaillant spoke from Orange County, just 50 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, and has seen few impacts from the massive fires in the north. “The whole state could burn no problem and nothing has really slowed down. The winds slightly, but they still have to pick up again north of us and can certainly move this way. So, it’s a weird ‘watching and waiting’ time,” he said.
In the hours that followed and after a relatively quiet morning, Los Angeles County residents were starting to return home to survey the utter devastation in their flattened communities. Many returned to the areas where their homes once stood to find absolutely nothing left.
