California infernos in January? Here’s why wildfire season keeps getting longer and more devastating

A firefighter battles flames from the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 7, 2025. Photo by Eric Thayer, Getty Images

This story was originally published by CalMatters on January 8, 2025 and updated on January 9, 2025, and is reprinted here with permission.

As climate change warms the planet, wildfires have become so unpredictable and extreme that new words were invented: firenado, gigafire, fire siege — even fire pandemic. California has 78 more annual “fire days” — when conditions are ripe for fires to spark — than 50 years ago. When is California’s wildfire season? With recurring droughts, It is now year-round.

Nothing is as it was. Where are the worst California wildfires? All over. Whatever NIMBYism that gave comfort to some Californians — never having a fire in their community before — no longer applies to most areas. 

Los Angeles County is the latest victim. The fast-growing Palisades Fire, whipped by vicious Santa Ana winds, ignited along the coast in Los Angeles Tuesday morning, destroying homes and forcing evacuation of about 10,000 households. Within hours, another wildfire, the Eaton Fire, erupted to the northeast, in Altadena, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, where wind gusts were clocked at almost 100 mph. And then late Tuesday night, a third Los Angeles County fire ignited in the San Fernando Valley area of Sylmar, and by Wednesday morning, a fourth, this one in the Sepulveda Basin.

Fire officials reported that more than 1,000 homes in just Pacific Palisades have been destroyed and many people were injured, including five fatalities from the Eaton Fire. Nearly the entire county is shrouded in smoke advisories. All of Southern California is experiencing drought conditions, with close to zero rainfall since July.

Southern California’s coastal fires typically have to be driven by desert winds. But no longer.Vegetation along the usually moist coast is often so parched that it doesn’t need winds to fan wildfires. 

Also, in the far north, California’s so-called “asbestos forests” have lost their immunity. Massive fires tore through dense, moist rainforests where climate change chased away the region’s protective layer of fog and mist. 

What causes California’s wildfires? Arson and power lines are the major triggers. A 2022 audit showed that utilities aren’t doing enough to prevent fires. But lightning-sparked fires, like the one that burned Big Basin park, are a fairly recent trend. Unpredictable and hugely powerful lightning storms — tens of thousands of strikes in a span of days — bombard already dry and vulnerable landscapes. Scientists say to expect more lightning as the planet warms. And, aided and abetted by drought, more than 163 million trees have been killed by drought or insects.

The job of battling these larger, more stubborn California wildfires has become more complicated, fearsome and deadly, straining the state’s already overworked firefighters.

And much, much more costly. The Legislative Analyst’s Office provided this sobering calculation: CalFire’s total funding for fire protection, resource management and fire prevention has grown from $800 million in 2005-06 to an estimated $3.7 billion in 2021-22.

As the impacts and costs surge, homeowners are still finding that insurance companies are canceling their policies — even if they fire-harden their property.

More attention is being paid to the unhealthy smoke lingering in communities. Even California’s crops are harmed, with concerns about a smoke- tainted grape harvest and impacting the state’s $58 billion wine industry. 

California’s landscape evolved with fire. What remains is for its inhabitants to adapt to the new reality.

And that requires yet another new term: Welcome to the “Pyrocene,” coined by fire scientist Stephen J.Pyne. The age of fire.

This article, which was originally published in CalMatters on January 8, 2025, is republished, with permission. CalMatters is a nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization bringing Californians stories that probe, explain and explore solutions to quality of life issues while holding our leaders accountable. They are the only journalism outlet dedicated to covering America’s biggest state which includes 39 million Californians and represents the world’s fifth largest economy.