The arsonists of denial
Progressive podcaster and author Bryan Tyler Cohen asked the California fire marshal chief Daniel Berlant the cause of the fires in Los Angeles and, specifically, if arson was a factor. I wanted to raise my hand and answer those questions for him. The cause is anthropogenic climate change, of course. And yes, arson was a factor. The arsonists are the greedy oil companies, the profiteering billionaires, and a Republican Party cynically promoting destructive lies and conspiracy theories. If you’re looking for someone to blame for the dozens of deaths, 12,000 destroyed homes and structures and 179,000 human beings made homeless, look there.
The private forecaster AccuWeather estimates initial damage and economic loss at more than fifty billion dollars and has the potential to be the costliest wildfire disaster in American history. This is no accident. These fires were inevitable. Horrible? Yes. Tragic? Absolutely. But anyone who is wondering how such a thing could happen hasn’t been paying attention. It was inevitable, and it’s going to happen again. And again. And again.
That these apocalyptic fires happened in Southern California at this time isn’t surprising either. Much of California is desert, so it was an obvious place for a huge fire. Besides, California has been on fire almost continuously for the past decade. I grew up in Southern California and recall the frequent brush fires. Relatives who still live there report they’ve gotten worse — much worse. As with earthquakes, today fire is part of the routine disaster conversation. Just ask the people of Australia what that’s like.
When a fire consumes 10,000 or more acres it’s what’s known as a megafire. The Los Angeles fires have consumed nearly 40,000 acres. Megafires sometimes become firestorms because they create their own catastrophic wind systems. The German city of Dresden was destroyed by just such a firestorm in World War II.
It’s what climate scientist professor Katherine Kayhoe calls a “threat multiplier.” As she put it in a tweet from a few years back, “Human-induced climate change is a threat multiplier. It takes existing risks [and] amplifies them beyond imagining, affecting every living thing on this planet: including us.” Needless to say, when the LA fire is finally contained, the bill for the carbon footprint is going to be staggering.
Whenever there’s a catastrophe like the one in Los Angeles there’s always a mob of thuggish victim-blamers to tweak the noses of the victims. This time is no exception. The truly galling part is how Republicans, who are positively hugging themselves with delight that Los Angeles is in flames, are blaming the “woke” and “DEI” culture in California for the fires. Denying science and promoting false narratives squarely falls within the playbook of the fossil fuel industry and its proponents.
My sister lost her home in the Santa Rosa fire of 2017, so I have some personal insight into what that can feel like. It scars you for life, and the tugging pain of personal loss never entirely goes away. The LA fires are a tragedy on that account, and human greed and ignorance are the causes. The arsonists of climate change denial are the true criminals here.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.