Unfortunately, southeastern Australia shares many of the same fire risk factors present in southern California. While we don’t have the Santa Ana winds, we do have winds of a similar nature. Strong downslope wind events, often associated with hot and dry prefrontal conditions, are a significant driver of extreme bushfire development in southeast Australia. These winds combine with the complex terrain of the Great Dividing Range and coastal escarpments to produce highly dynamic fire behaviours and patterns of fire propagation that are difficult to predict, and that lead to the development of extreme bushfires. The addition of severe drought primes the landscape for disaster.

While it is remarkable to see such catastrophic fires burning around LA in winter, it is important to remember that significant fires were already burning and destroying homes in northern New South Wales in the winter of 2019 as a prelude to the ‘Black Summer’. This is just further demonstration of how climate change is shifting fire seasons around the globe.

The devastating LA wildfires are a reminder of the threat fire can pose to urban environments. For the best understanding of the drivers and consequences of the LA fires, we should listen to those living and working in affected areas. Nevertheless, fire is a global issue and many features of these fires are shared by other communities and landscapes around the world, including in Australia.

This includes the juxtaposition of dense urban settlements with flammable vegetation, the interplay of terrain, weather and climate change, the exclusion of Indigenous peoples and knowledge, and our ability to respond to, recover and learn from an increasingly rapid succession of disasters. In many ways, fire is a microcosm of the sustainability crisis. The good news is, if we can genuinely confront fire’s complexity and collectively chart a path towards coexistence with it, we will have a head start on solving many of our most pressing problems.

California has faced some of its worst wildfires in recent times, including the devastating fires currently burning in Los Angeles. As Australians know all too well, wildfires can spread rapidly and have devastating consequences for human lives, communities, wildlife, and the environment.
Changing climate conditions have extended fire seasons and increased the occurrence and severity of wildfires. Higher temperatures and extended dry periods reduce fuel moisture and increase fuel load, creating environmental conditions that increase our vulnerability to extreme environmental events.  
These environmental conditions also elevate the risks associated with fires started by humans. It is estimated that over 84% of wildfires in the United States are caused by human activities (e.g., including negligence and acts of arson). In South East and Western Australia, it is estimated that as many as 40% of bushfires involve deliberate ignition (including illegal fires started without a permit and arson). Most of these fires occur on the urban/rural interface where high levels of combustible vegetation meet residential, workplace, and recreational areas; increasing risks of fire exposure and the potential for unintended spread and catastrophic outcomes.
The duration and intensity of fire seasons are a cause for concern both here in Australia and internationally. Preparedness, suppression, recovery planning are key to international responses to wildfires, however, so is ignition prevention; especially given the significant proportion of fires that result from human action. Considering how wildfires start and actively investing in ways to prevent these will help us take meaningful steps towards reducing the incidence and impacts of a significant proportion of these fires.

The fires in LA are a devastating example of the growing climate crisis. While fire is a natural part of many ecosystems, the unprecedented scale and timing of these fires highlight the profound impacts of climate change and extreme weather.

These fires, occurring during winter and outside the traditional fire season, follow an extremely hot summer and prolonged drought in California. While the winds driving these fires are not uncommon, the lack of precipitation preceding these events and similar drought events are likely to become more frequent as climate change intensifies.

It is unclear at this stage whether Australia faces a similar future or whether we can expect fires outside the fire season, in the winter months. However, Australia’s fire regime is changing. One aspect of this change is a lengthening fire season. We are seeing fires starting early and extending later into the year in many places around Australia. This year’s hottest spring on record has brought early, fast-moving fires that are increasingly hard to control.

Prolonged drought and heatwaves make fires more difficult to predict, prevent and manage, especially outside traditional fire seasons. Ongoing, proactive management is essential going forward. The difficulty with controlling these fires was that it occurred so quickly and with such intensity. Under a changing climate, the current level of preparedness may not be enough, and the LA fires are a devastating example of the status quo no longer being effective in minimising risk. 

Addressing the root causes of climate change is critical to reducing wildfire risks and protecting communities and ecosystems in fire-prone regions worldwide.

California experiences these Santa Ana wind-driven fires regularly. But they have been getting more frequent, more severe, and pushing later into the winter months in recent times, almost certainly due to climate change.

There are several regions of the world where highly flammable vegetation abuts urban areas. California is probably the most exposed, but our major cities all have this problem (Hobart, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra).

The major disasters occur when there is drought, high winds, and a fire starts near one of these urban areas.

The research community (and some Australian fire agencies) is terrified of the prospect of one of these fires punching through the first layer of houses and causing an urban conflagration. That is exactly what happened in LA yesterday, and it has happened a few times in the USA previously (think of the Lahaina fire in Hawaii in 2023). Strictly speaking, it has never happened in Australia (I am doing research on this), but it has come close, and we think that will happen one day (again largely because of climate change).

What Australia can learn from the LA fires is that we've been put on notice. We know for certain that these fires are attributable to climate change, they are larger than usual, more ferocious than usual, and definitely out of season.  

Ironically, we as Australians contributed to these fires in multiple ways, one as exporters of eucalypts to that region in the 1800s and, two, being one of the world's largest per capita emitters of carbon emissions for 30 years.  

This is a wake up call, yet another reminder to both Australia and the US, that we must not slide back into climate denialism and wilful ignorance as the political landscape shifts and we head into elections for 2025. We owe it to our children to stop burning coal and accelerate renewables. And nuclear is not the answer.

The LA fires seem to be directly related to the high potential for dry conditions in that part of California that is typical of how the La Nina climate system impacts that part of the world.

That being the case, one would have expected the local authorities to be well prepared (this type of information should be readily available and used in Risk Management. This La Nina has been forecast to continue to develop by the US Climate Prediction Center for over 6 months now).

The LA fires demonstrate the perils of late evacuation with people getting stuck in traffic jams and having to flee on foot. We have experienced similar situations in Australia before, and will experience it again. It is particularly important that those who are more vulnerable plan to leave early in the event of a disaster. This includes pregnant women and parents with babies and toddlers.

We know that caring for children means that everything takes longer, this includes packing for evacuation. 

Parents need to be making a disaster plan now, including planning to leave early, packing an evacuation kit for their child, and arranging to evacuate to a friend or family member's home rather than an evacuation centre if possible.
  
In the acute and recovery phase of disasters such as the catastrophic wildfires in California, it is vital that pregnant women, new mothers and other caregivers of infants and children are provided with targeted support. Past emergencies have shown that without this support adverse outcomes result such as preterm birth, and dehydration and infections in infants in the short term and behavioural, emotional and developmental problems for children in the long-term.

Like southeastern and southwestern Australia, coastal California is one of the most fire prone regions on earth. California also has the highest concentration of people in north America living close to forests. Much of the state’s forest is overstocked with relatively small trees, which poses significant fire risks.  

The current fires impacting on Los Angeles have been driven by extended drought and high winds. Climate change is extending the period that fires of this intensity can occur. Historically, such fires from January to March are rare, but their incidence has increased in recent years, with devastating effects. 

Australians can learn from these events. The proximity of hazardous fuels and residential developments heightens fire risks and highlights the need for forest and fuel management, not only in the immediate interface with housing, but across landscapes. High fuel loads in relatively remote forests pose threats to urban areas. High winds can rapidly push fires from remote to urbanised areas and smoke from uncontrolled wildfires impacts on public health. 

State and Federal Governments in the US have recognised this challenge. They are spending billions of dollars on programs to restore fire resilience to forests by thinning overstocked forests and increasing vegetation diversity, including open meadows and other special habitats. This allows wildfires, when they do ignite, to burn with less impact on people and on the environment.

These investments may have been too recent to impact on the LA fires. In Australia, much wider use of Indigenous cultural and prescribed fire, fire breaks and mechanical fuel treatments can support suppression capacity and reduce fire risks. All Australiana need to be educated about fire risks, how they are increasing and how to best adapt to a changing climate.

Fire fighters were hampered by a lack of water pressure. This is also a major problem in Australia during urban wild fires as well. It is often compounded with loss of electricity.
 
Much of NSW and the Sydney, Illawarra and Blue Mountains has had lots of rain over the last few years. With the hot weather over the last few weeks - this means that much of that flourishing plant growth is now drying out. Along with the hot weather there has also been increased leaf and bark shedding. The build-up of such highly flammable material can make bushfire conditions at your home much worse.
  
I recommend that people update their bushfire plans - and clear away flammable objects from around the house. This includes cleaning accumulated sticks, leaves and bark from house gutters and around your house.
 
Now that we have had some rain and the temperatures are cooler, right now might be a good opportunity to prepare your property before there is another blast of hot and dry weather.

Fires impacting the fabric of society are the new climate disrupted normal. Unfortunately, we will have to get used to it, even if society decides to douse these flames and the many other ‘fires’ of climate disruption.

The fires in LA and other climate change impacts could have been prevented if we had chosen to take action 50 years ago when the cause (increased concentrations of greenhouse gases emitted by society) was already well known. And the advice given.

Now we have let the genie out, we have to do much more to adapt to the new reality. It will also cost much more and adaptation will of necessity require much bigger government investment.

Unfortunately, the costs will be borne increasingly by those most vulnerable in society, even while celebrities watch their beach houses burn on the tele from the safety of distance. The role of science and thoughtful environmental management have always been important but are now urgently needed. This is a local problem for everyone.

Acting locally includes preventing environmental damage that affects us all. For example, in NSW we continue to allow intensive native forest logging, increasing the flammability of our forests, while at the same time limiting mandated surveys to protect remaining habitats for threatened species. 

The effects on threatened species will be felt by all of us.  New research shows that we can do much better in our own forests.

My heart is with Californians. Devastating fires across urban areas are impacting so many people, lives, animals and the environment. We don't yet fully appreciate what has happened, particularly as the fires still burn.  But from Australia, five years after Black Summer, we share the pain.
 
It is winter in the USA. Wildfires in winter. 
It's a big city. Wildfires in urban areas.
They ran low on water. In winter. In a big city.
Power was stretched. Travel compromised. 
 
Perhaps they were less well prepared for events that have never been experienced? #unprecedented
 
No place is immune from the catastrophic extreme events that will define our future. Climate change is not selective in its impacts. The global climate is changing and all of us will feel this through weather events we have not seen before. 
 
We also see the impossible tensions for our future in this experience. Cities will look to reduce urban vegetation to reduce fire risk, yet we rely on this vegetation for cooling and removing increases human vulnerability to heat. What choices will we make for our future? 
 
Imagining the future is challenging and is more important now than it has ever been. While the future is a complex shifting landscape with many variables - realizing the core dependence we have on our environment has never been more important. What will future generations make of our decisions today?

An LA-style fire impacting a major Australian city is inevitable and we must be prepared. In 1967 fires burnt to within 2km of the Hobart CBD claiming  62 lives and in 2003 fires burnt into the suburbs of Canberra destroying close to 500 homes.
 
Fire risk globally is worsening due to climate change and the increased number of people living close to bushland. Research shows that the frequency and severity of fire weather has risen in recent decades and is expected to continue. Fire seasons are also becoming longer. Those properties located closest to bushland are most at-risk. During Black Summer 80% of properties destroyed on the NSW South Coast were located within 100 metres of bushland. Our cities are ringed by bushland meaning many thousands of homes are vulnerable.
 
Preparedness in Australia for destructive bushfires has improved over recent decades, though there are opportunities via research and innovation to further improve. These include the resilient construction and resilience of the buildings, communication of warnings, detection and suppression of fires using advanced technologies and utilisation of First Nations People's fire management knowledge. Community action is vital including communities working together to ensure homes are well prepared and that those least able to respond during a bushfire crisis can be supported. It is up to everyone to ensure our communities are safe and resilient.