The flames in the city of Los Angeles, California, continued to create destructive paths on Friday, and US officials believe that ‘no ‘water system’ in the world is capable of extinguishing the Los Angeles fires’.
According to the American broadcaster CNN, fire brigade officials tried to assess the damage and determine how the fire started. A big question arose: could this level of destruction have been reduced in any way, or is this the new normal in the era of climate-related disasters?
A review of government reports and interviews with more than a dozen experts shows that the final answer is a ‘combination’ of both.
Los Angeles city and county officials have called the fire a “superstorm,” with winds gusting up to 100 mph preventing them from deploying critical aircraft that could have been used to water and extinguish fires in drought-stricken areas.
The consensus among experts was that the combination of these winds, unusually dry conditions, and multiple fires in a single geographic region made widespread destruction inevitable.
However, there are steps we as humans could have taken to potentially mitigate the effects of nature’s wrath. Poor management of vegetation, aging infrastructure, housing, and lack of planning likely contributed to the fires, which have so far burned more than 55 square miles, destroyed thousands of structures, and killed at least 10 people.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass promised a full investigation, saying, “Believe me.” He said that we will review what can be done to hold departments, individuals or everyone accountable and what cannot be done.
It should be noted that more than 10 deaths have been recorded so far since the Los Angeles forest fire spread to the city, however, the final death toll will be determined after clearance and access to the area. Thousands of homes have been completely destroyed, and about 150,000 people have had to be evacuated.
According to global experts and organizations, the estimated damage from this fire is expected to exceed $150 billion, however, nothing can be said yet about how far the damage will reach.
