California Wildfires: A full-blown crisis

The devastating wildfires have definitely given the Los Angeles firefighters a window to breathe before they pull up their socks again to step up preparedness for another round of deadly wildfires that the fire department has warned of in days to come. Santa Ana Winds are expected to strengthen soon and close to 1,70,000 people are still under evacuation notices. It’s the deadliest fire in the American history. Los Angeles has been the epicenter of this devastation. Los Angeles is the worst affected. Reports claim that the fires have so far claimed at least 24 lives in LA alone, devastating entire neighborhoods that still lie in the form of debris. Up to 12,00 buildings have been destroyed. Residents who fled the sites came back to see their houses completely torched. The fires have burned close to 40,000 acres of land. LA is home to a costly neighbourhood making the devastation an expensive one. Reports suggest that the overall losses have crossed approximately 250 billion dollars. The richest and the best equipped country of the world like is not being able to contain a wildfire is extremely worrisome. Media reports said 14,000 firefighters, 84 aircraft and 1,354 fire engines did not seem enough to control the situation.

It all started on January 7, when The Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire both broke out and grew to more than 23,000 and 14,000 acres. Several smaller fires—including the Hurst Fire and Auto Fire were also alive, which are now contained. The fires were fueled by low humidity, dry conditions and strong winds. Experts pointed out that the wet weather that was followed by dry winter season worsened the situation. 2022-23 brought in usually cold and wet winters to California leading to excessive growth of trees and shrubs in California. 2024 brought exceptionally dry weather to southern California. The excessive vegetation had all dried up by then. However, the question remains if the wild fire could have been better managed. While drought, climate change and water crisis were the key reasons behind the wildfire, here are a few factors that made it difficult to control the situation.

Artificial intelligence uses gallons of water

How does Artificial intelligence work? Imagine you type a prompt to get your answers, the prompt is turned into a code that flows through a network of servers that run thousands of complex calculations and finally the best possible response is produced. The servers generate lots of heat. Data centres rely on cooling systems to prevent overheating. Cooling towers use vast amounts of water. Experts pointed out that a 500-word article drinks up to 2 bottles of water roughly. Experts believe that rising usage of Artificial intelligence contributed to the water scarcity. Building more AI data centres uses up gallons of water.

Thousands lose insurance cover ahead of fire

Losing a home to a wildfire without insurance is life shattering. In what seems to be an unbelievable coincidence, just a few months ago, thousands of LA residents had their home insurances cancelled. Palisades is an expensive neighbourhood that got 1600 insurance covers dropped ahead of the wildfire. LA Times reported, those who did not drop the policies, increased the rates to exorbitant limits. With Climate change increasing the risk of wildfire, insurance companies reportedly forecasted the situation ahead and decided to drop the policies. Experts pointed out that the government must have worked on risk-sharing mechanisms to avoid this.

Deliberate arson related arrests

Another theory that is widely being discussed is the possible misuse of the situation by anti-social elements. As per an NBC report, investigators are probing this theory not ruling out arson as the cause of either of the major fires. The theory drew public attention after a spate of arson-related arrests, including one arrest of a man who was allegedly seen lighting a fire near the smaller Kenneth Fire last week.

California has not yet reached the stage of calculating the economic aftermath of the wildfires, because the state is still coping with the losses. The New York Times reported, “Estimating the likely economic losses is tricky at this stage. The weather data company AccuWeather has offered a figure of $250 billion to $275 billion, though a Goldman Sachs report said it found the estimate high.”

Meanwhile, the Hollywood festivities have definitely been badly hit with the wildfires turning Hollywood from a land of glamour to the land of devastation. Those who lost their homes were mostly the rich. celebrities like Paris Hilton, Mandy Moore, Leighton Meester and husband Adam Brody too lost their multi-million-dollar properties. Social media is buzzing with reactions coming in from the victims. Taking to her instagram page Mandy Moote wrote, “My children's school is gone. Our favorite restaurants, leveled. So many friends and loved ones have lost everything too. Our community is broken.”