What started the LA wildfires and why does California get so many?
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California no longer has a fire season, state governor Gavin Newsom said, as the latest blaze raged across Los Angeles. The governor said fire season is now ‘year-round’. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated after flames quickly engulfed huge swathes of the Pacific Palisades area and the Hollywood Hills in a matter of hours this week.
And suspected arsonists have been arrested for starting further fires, with one arrested by a group of citizens when he was spotted holding a propane tank. Photos and video footage show entire neighbourhoods ablaze under skies tinted orange and black. The causes of all of the wildfires are under investigation, but thousands of buildings have been destroyed and the economic damage caused by the fires is estimated to have exceeded $150 billion.
![[Mandatory Credit: Photo by Jordan Stern/Shutterstock (15083904o) Los Angeles firefighters are seen inside of a burning home while trying to extinguish the fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles, CA. The Palisades Fire started on Tuesday morning in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA during a Red Flag Warning and strong winds in Southern California. The Palisades Fire, Los Angeles, California, USA - 07 Jan 2025]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_235323163-2de6.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Follow the latest news on the Los Angeles wildfires on our live blog. Speaking of the wildfires, Newsom said: ‘This time of year traditionally has not been fire season, but now, we disabuse any notion that there is a season. ‘It’s year-round in the state of California.’.
![[#PalisadesFire from a flight arriving into LAX]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_235323198-bf07.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, where there’s been very little rain so far this season. Southern California hasn’t seen more than 0.1 inches of rain since early May.
![[Elderly patients are quickly evacuated into emergency vehicles as embers and flames approach during the Eaton fire in Pasadena, California on January 7, 2025. A ferocious wildfire in a Los Angeles suburb devoured buildings and sparked panicked evacuations January 7, as hurricane-force winds tore through the region. More than 200 acres (80 hectares) was burning in Pacific Palisades, a upscale spot with multi-million dollar homes in the Santa Monica Mountains. Across town, on the northern edge of Los Angeles, another fire broke out in Eaton Canyon, near Pasadena, quickly consuming 200 acres (81 hectares) later in the night, according to Angeles National Forest officials. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP) (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_235331572-0bcc.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
