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(The Guardian) ‘Criminally reckless’: why LA’s urban sprawl made wildfires inevitable – and how it should rebuild
“Crime don’t climb” is one of the glib mottoes long used by Los Angeles real estate agents to help sell the multimillion-dollar homes in the hills that surround the sprawling metropolis. Residents of the lush ridges and winding canyons can rest assured, in their elevated green perches – safely removed from the smog-laden, supposedly crime-ridden flatlands beneath. What the realtors neglect to mention, however, is that, while crime rarely ascends the hills, flames certainly do. And that the very things that make this sun-soaked city’s dream homes so attractive – lush landscaping, quaint timber construction, raised terrain and narrow, twisting lanes – are the very things that make them burn so well. They create blazing infernos that, as we have seen over the past week, are tragically difficult to extinguish.
LA’s ferocious wildfires have seen an area about three times the size of Manhattan incinerated. At least 12,000 homes have burned to the ground and 150,000 people have been evacuated, as entire neighbourhoods become smouldering ruins. Twenty-five people have died, 24 more are missing. Estimates suggest the cost of damage and economic losses could reach $250bn, making it the costliest wildfire in US history – mainly due to the flames torching some of the highest-value real estate in the country. And it’s not over yet. The city is bracing for further destruction, as weather forecasts suggest winds might pick up again.
Media coverage has had the air of a Hollywood disaster movie, as helicopters swoop through dark red skies while the list of charred celebrity homes grows, and the palm fronds are left blackened. Mel Gibson lost his $14.5m Malibu mansion while recording a Joe Rogan podcast. Anthony Hopkins’ colonial pile in Pacific Palisades was reduced to a scorched brick chimney. Bella Hadid posted about the loss of her 11-bathroom childhood home, in the inauspiciously named Carbon Canyon. There were Ballardian scenes of bulldozers sweeping abandoned Porsches off the streets, while imprisoned firefighters – temporarily released from jail to battle the blazes for around $10 a day – risked their lives to prevent the inferno from consuming further luxury properties.
Celebrity mansions have made most of the headlines, but fire doesn’t discriminate. Most of the 200 mobile homes of the Palisades Bowl trailer park went up in flames too. Across town, the Eaton fire ripped through the mixed-income community of Altadena, ravaging more than 14,000 acres of homes, schools, churches and businesses. It has been a shocking, saddening spectacle – but also one that was entirely predictable. Blame has been variously hurled at water mismanagement and fire department budget cuts, but little could have been done to stop these blazes. After a century of misguided urban development and flagrant disregard for climate change, it was only a question of when they would ignite.
“Crime don’t climb” is one of the glib mottoes long used by Los Angeles real estate agents to help sell the multimillion-dollar homes in the hills that surround the sprawling metropolis. Residents of the lush ridges and winding canyons can rest assured, in their elevated green perches – safely removed from the smog-laden, supposedly crime-ridden flatlands beneath. What the realtors neglect to mention, however, is that, while crime rarely ascends the hills, flames certainly do. And that the very things that make this sun-soaked city’s dream homes so attractive – lush landscaping, quaint timber construction, raised terrain and narrow, twisting lanes – are the very things that make them burn so well. They create blazing infernos that, as we have seen over the past week, are tragically difficult to extinguish.
LA’s ferocious wildfires have seen an area about three times the size of Manhattan incinerated. At least 12,000 homes have burned to the ground and 150,000 people have been evacuated, as entire neighbourhoods become smouldering ruins. Twenty-five people have died, 24 more are missing. Estimates suggest the cost of damage and economic losses could reach $250bn, making it the costliest wildfire in US history – mainly due to the flames torching some of the highest-value real estate in the country. And it’s not over yet. The city is bracing for further destruction, as weather forecasts suggest winds might pick up again.
Media coverage has had the air of a Hollywood disaster movie, as helicopters swoop through dark red skies while the list of charred celebrity homes grows, and the palm fronds are left blackened. Mel Gibson lost his $14.5m Malibu mansion while recording a Joe Rogan podcast. Anthony Hopkins’ colonial pile in Pacific Palisades was reduced to a scorched brick chimney. Bella Hadid posted about the loss of her 11-bathroom childhood home, in the inauspiciously named Carbon Canyon. There were Ballardian scenes of bulldozers sweeping abandoned Porsches off the streets, while imprisoned firefighters – temporarily released from jail to battle the blazes for around $10 a day – risked their lives to prevent the inferno from consuming further luxury properties.
Celebrity mansions have made most of the headlines, but fire doesn’t discriminate. Most of the 200 mobile homes of the Palisades Bowl trailer park went up in flames too. Across town, the Eaton fire ripped through the mixed-income community of Altadena, ravaging more than 14,000 acres of homes, schools, churches and businesses. It has been a shocking, saddening spectacle – but also one that was entirely predictable. Blame has been variously hurled at water mismanagement and fire department budget cuts, but little could have been done to stop these blazes. After a century of misguided urban development and flagrant disregard for climate change, it was only a question of when they would ignite.
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