With authorities readily admitting the unprecedented conditions in California are stretching their fire fighting resources past their limits, many are asking what has caused these ferocious wildfires outside of the typical fire season.
Category
🗞
NoticiasTranscripción
00:00California's famed coastline, flattened and charred.
00:06The scale of this disaster, hard to comprehend.
00:21So how did an inferno sweep through suburban Los Angeles in the middle of winter?
00:27The LA Fire Department says the blaze started here,
00:30in this residential neighborhood on the edge of a mountain ridgeline.
00:34It quickly spread to this expansive area,
00:37and eventually new fires broke out in other parts of the city.
00:42The fires were fueled by a dangerous wind event,
00:45which brought hot hurricane-force gales.
00:49Here, a satellite image shows the Santa Ana winds,
00:52created by the mountainous landscape in California and surrounding states.
00:56Air pressure builds in the high grounds of the desert,
00:59the wind warms up as it descends the mountains,
01:02and then speeds up as it passes through narrow canyons.
01:07Those gusts fanned flames that firefighters couldn't control.
01:11The fires will not stop while those winds are blowing.
01:15Santa Ana means devil wind, for good reason.
01:19Another factor, extra dry conditions this year,
01:23and excess fuel load in the area.
01:39The parched grounds in densely populated areas, a recipe for disaster.
01:54It's an almost impossible task to contain fires in these conditions.
01:59Now emergency services in some parts of the city
02:03are running low on an essential resource.
02:06The hundred fire engines, flowing water,
02:09we are going to stretch our water system.
02:12These fires, forcing residents and authorities to redefine disaster season.
02:19Unfortunately, we're seeing climate change in action.
02:22We're seeing worldwide lengthening fire seasons.
02:25The global impacts of these fires still unfolding.
02:29Isabella Higgins, ABC News.