This article explores the recurring theme of wildfire in Los Angeles, examining how the city's history and culture have intertwined with the destructive power of flames. Drawing on the works of writers like Mike Davis and Joan Didion, the author highlights the escalating scale and impact of recent fires, contrasting them with past accounts that often viewed them as a grimly familiar inevitability. The article argues that in the face of accelerating climate change, the normalization of apocalyptic events like wildfires poses a profound challenge to how we understand and respond to these disasters.
Fire is an inextricable part of the region’s identity, as the writers knew. But the way this divided city burns has been transformedFire in Los Angeles has a singular ability to shock, with its destruction that takes “grimly familiar pathways” down the canyons and into the subdivisions. The phrase comes from the writer and activist, and it is as true for the fires as for our talk of the fires. Even our reflections take on that grim familiarity: we citeNathanael West.
Davis wrote The Case for Letting Malibu Burn under the impression of the conflagrations of the late fall of 1993 – including one in Topanga Canyon that dived down the hillsides towards Malibu, and one in Eaton Canyon that ripped through Altadena. Two places, that is, that are aflame this week again.And yet, without much changing, much has changed.
Davis’s essay told the story of a natural landscape prone to periodic but minor burns forcibly overlaid with a secondary geography: one shaped by large lots, lavish private homes, well-funded firefighters, generous insurance rates, and endless cars, resulting in far more rare but absolutely cataclysmic fire events. An artificial “ecotone of chaparral and suburb” that “magnified the natural fire danger”.
The fires are great levelers, but they are also great dividers. The same week in 1993 during which Topanga and Eaton Canyons burned, so did a large and overcrowded tenement in Westlake, killing 10. This is why his essay pairs Malibu – “the wildfire capital of North America and, possibly, the world”, as Davis remarks – with Westlake, which led the rest of America in “urban fire incidence”.
Wildfires Climate Change Los Angeles Mike Davis Joan Didion Natural Disasters Urban Planning
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Woman Dies in Queensland House Fire, Man Hospitalized with Severe BurnsA fatal house fire in Sarina, Queensland, has claimed the life of a 71-year-old woman. A man in his 40s suffered life-threatening burns and was hospitalized. Two firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion.
Read more »
Girl Suffers Severe Burns From Flammable Online PurchaseAn eight-year-old girl in Queensland, Australia, suffered severe burns after a jumper purchased from the online retailer Temu caught fire. The incident has prompted calls for stronger consumer protection laws.
Read more »
Temu Hoodie Recall Under Investigation After Child Suffers Severe BurnsA young girl in Queensland suffered serious burns after a hoodie purchased from online retailer Temu caught fire. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is investigating the incident and has recalled the faulty children's jumper.
Read more »
Grampians/Gariwerd Bushfire Burns Out of ControlA bushfire in Victoria's Grampians/Gariwerd National Park has been burning for over 24 hours, prompting Watch and Act and Prepare to Leave warnings for residents in several areas. Fire crews are battling to contain the blaze, which has already burned over 564 hectares.
Read more »
Grampians National Park Bushfire Burns 5,000 HectaresA bushfire in the Grampians National Park has burned through 5,000 hectares of land, prompting a watch and act message for residents in several areas.
Read more »
Woman Airlifted to Hospital with Severe Burns After Sydney House FireA woman in her 50s suffered severe burns after a fire broke out at a two-story home in Kingswood Park, Sydney. Fire crews responded to multiple calls and contained the blaze on the ground floor within 15 minutes. The woman was treated by firefighters and paramedics before being airlifted to Royal North Shore Hospital by CareFlight Helicopter.
Read more »