The LA disaster is a wake-up call: Our firefighting playbook was written for a world that no longer exists. We need a new approach, and we need it now.
Environment / It's Time to Rethink Everything About How We Fight Fires A firefighter monitors the spread of the Auto Fire in Oxnard, northwest of Los Angeles, California, on January 13, 2025. (Etienne Laurent / AFP via Getty Images) On January 5, anticipating stronger than usual Santa Ana winds after a prolonged drought, the state of California requested that federal and state firefighting resources be "prepositioned" to respond to wildfire incidents in the Los Angeles area. The next day, atmospheric scientists noted the dangerous combination of winds, low humidity, and unstable atmosphere that creates extreme fire weather. All that was needed for a catastrophic, uncontainable wildfire to spread was a spark. On January 7, firefighters responded to reports of a brush fire near Temescal Canyon, North of Pacific Palisades. The parched Chaparral, crowded by flammable non-native species, exploded in flames and sent embers into the air. Gusts nearing 100 mph carried those embers more than two miles and grounded aircraft during the critical window when the fire might have been small enough to control. We know what happened next. The fire spread relentlessly; as I write, the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth, and Hurst fires have burned more than 40,000 acres and 12,000 structures combined, and Palisades—the largest—remains less than 20 percent contained. The death toll is in the dozens and likely to rise. Tens of thousands have lost their homes, upending the geography of their lives. Around 100,000 people are currently displaced. It remains to be seen whether California's insurer of last resort will have the funds to protect many of those families from further destruction. When the wind does calm, it will take years for the region to recover. The national media response to the fires was swift: The world watched as bulldozers pushed aside abandoned cars on I-405 to let firefighters in, and celebrities spoke of watching their homes burn. Viewers and social media users saw…