Santa Ana’s Inferno

With the natural occurring winds from the Santa Ana winds, a stream of fires has erupted in and around the greater Los Angeles County.

What are the Santa Ana Winds?

The Santa Ana winds are katabatic winds, katabatic winds are a downslope wind caused by the flow of an elevated, high-density air mass clashing into a lower-density air mass.

Essentially arising in high altitudes and blowing down towards the sea.

With around 10-20 wind events annually, these wind swells created by the Santa Ana can last up to 14 days with the typical wind event lasting around 3 days.

On Tuesday January, 7th the Palisades Fire erupted. Without knowing the direct cause the fires were fueled from these Santa Ana winds.

The Santa Ana winds also known as the ‘Devil Winds’ have also caused a reduced amount of humidity making it even more susceptible to fire.

With winds reaching a high of 99 mph & a record low in rainfall this past year, this created all the ingredients to be recipe for disaster.

With various sources & footage showing the aftermath of the fires, barren charred land can be seen where homes once stood.

Several fires have erupted in & around the county with a handful of them being contained by firefighting officials. Officials are tracking 5 areas affected by wildfires, including; Eaton, Hurst, Kenneth & Lidia with the larger of the 2 still actively burning.

Fires; Kenneth, Hurst & Lidia have reportedly been contained by officials, with the Eaton & Palisades fires still brewing at the moment. Nearly 30,000 Acres of land have been cleared out from the fires. With over 10,000 homes destroyed & 300,000+ people being evacuated, these are the most destructive fires to ever touch LA county. The National guard has been called in by the State & the county is issuing warnings to would-be looters.

The Eaton fire has taken out roughly 10,000 acres on its own in the Hollywood hills of Los Angeles. Atop of natural occurrences, the elected officials have also failed their citizens in preparation & response to the eruption of these Wildfires. From budget cuts to late response, the elected mayor & governor have failed to manage this natural occurring disaster that appears annually. With literal cuts to the fire department, this disaster was only made worse by the decisions of the the elected officials.

Sources: CNN, Weather, TimesOfSanDiego