Los Angeles Hit by Double Whammy of Wildfires and Earthquake | US Wildfires

Millions of Los Angeles area residents were shaken by a 4.7 magnitude earthquake that struck early Thursday morning, as the region continues to battle multiple wildfires that are still out of control.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake's epicenter was four miles north of Malibu. The quake sent huge boulders crashing down Malibu Road and visibly shook the historic 1909 Santa Monica Pier, forcing people out of bed. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The quake was felt as far away as Orange County, where people reported moving objects in their homes, and was followed by several smaller aftershocks. A live camera at the 115-year-old Santa Monica Pier, about 10 miles from Malibu, showed several seconds of intense shaking. Malibu Councilman Bruce Silverstein said he has lived in the community for 13 years and it was the strongest quake he has ever felt.

“Our house shook for about two or three seconds,” Silverstein said. “I was worried the windows were going to break.”

Soon after, some famous Los Angeles residents, including Paris Hilton, took to social media. “That earthquake was scary,” the heiress and media personality wrote on X. “Oh my god, that was a big earthquake,” wrote reality TV star Khloe Kardashian.

Thursday’s quake was one of several small earthquakes to hit the region recently, including a 4.4-magnitude quake that rattled nerves and shook buildings last month. There have now been 14 earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 or higher in Southern California this year. While that’s up from an average of eight to 10 quakes a year in the past few decades, it’s too early to know whether the increased activity is statistically significant, said Lucy Jones, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology. The previous high was 13 quakes of that magnitude in 1988.

The quake struck as the greater Los Angeles area was dealing with three major wildfires that have burned dozens of homes and forced thousands to evacuate. The fires broke out during a severe heat wave that was just beginning to ease.

Firefighters were hoping to take advantage of the cooler weather as they slowly gained the upper hand, but not before dozens of homes were destroyed and thousands of people were forced to evacuate.

Firefighters monitor the progress of the Lane Fire in Angelos Oaks, Calif., Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. Photo by Eric Thayer/AP

California has just begun its wildfire season, but it has already seen wildfires burn more than three times the area burned in all of 2023. Wildfires have threatened tens of thousands of homes and other structures across Southern California since accelerating during a triple-digit heat wave over the weekend.

No deaths were reported, but at least 10 people, most of them firefighters, were treated for injuries, mostly heat-related, authorities said.

In the small community of Wrightwood, about 90 minutes outside Los Angeles, authorities urged residents to leave the exploding Bridge Fire, which has grown tenfold in a single day, burning more than 50,000 acres and incinerating at least 33 homes.

A Quick Guide to US Wildfire Terminology, ExplainedView

Burnt acres

Wildfires in the United States are measured in area. While the size of a wildfire does not necessarily correlate with its destructive impact, area provides a way to understand a fire's footprint and how quickly it grows.

One hectare is 2.47 acres, and a square mile is 640 acres, but that can be hard to visualize. Here are some easy comparisons: One acre is roughly the size of an American football field. London’s Heathrow Airport is about 3,000 acres. Manhattan is about 14,600 acres, Chicago is about 150,000 acres, and Los Angeles is about 320,000 acres.

Megafire

The National Interagency Fire Center defines a megafire as a wildfire that has burned more than 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares).

Containment level

The containment level of a wildfire indicates how far firefighters have come in controlling the fire. Containment is achieved by creating perimeters through which the fire cannot move. This is done through methods such as laying fire retardant on the ground, digging trenches, or removing brush and other flammable fuels.

Containment is measured in terms of the percentage of the fire that is surrounded by these control lines. A wildfire with a low containment level, such as 0% or 5%, is essentially burning out of control. A fire with a high containment level, such as 90%, is not necessarily extinguished but has a large perimeter of protection and a controlled growth rate.

Evacuation Orders and Warnings

Officials issue evacuation warnings and orders when a wildfire poses an imminent threat to life or property. According to the California Office of Emergency Services, an evacuation warning means it’s a good idea to leave the area or prepare to leave soon. An evacuation order means you must leave the area immediately.

red flag warning

A red flag warning is a type of forecast issued by the National Weather Service to indicate when weather conditions are likely to spark or spread wildfires. These conditions typically include dryness, low humidity, high winds, and heat.

prescribed burn

Prescribed burning, or controlled burning, is a fire that is intentionally set under carefully managed conditions in order to improve the health of the landscape. Prescribed burning is carried out by trained professionals such as members of the U.S. Forest Service and Native fire practitioners. Prescribed burning helps remove flammable vegetation and reduces the risk of larger, more catastrophic fires, among other benefits.

Prescribed burning was a popular tool among Native American tribes who used “good fire” to improve land, but it was limited for most of the past century by the U.S. government’s fire suppression approach. In recent years, land managers in the United States have come around to embracing the benefits of prescribed burning, and now conduct thousands of such burnings across the country each year.

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Resident Irene Arias said she was rushing up the mountain when she was told to leave, and she did, taking her passport and dog. On Wednesday, she and her husband sprayed water on the roof of their house, which is still standing. Their cat is missing, she said.

“It’s very scary,” Arias said, looking at the burning embers of her neighbor’s house. “We’re really lucky.”

The fire spread unusually quickly across complex terrain, giving residents less time to evacuate than usual and surprising even seasoned fire officials, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“[The fire] “We had to go up the mountainsides, burn the slopes, jump through the valleys, burn new peaks, and then go back down the slope at least two more times during one burn,” Swain said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has sent National Guard troops to help with evacuations, and the White House said Joe Biden is monitoring the situation.

Elsewhere, more than 5,500 homes in Riverside County were ordered to evacuate due to the so-called Airport Fire, affecting more than 19,000 residents. Several cabins and recreational facilities in the Cleveland National Forest were damaged.

In San Bernardino County, about 65,600 homes and structures were threatened by the Lane Fire, and residents along the southern edge of Big Bear Lake, a mountain town popular for winter sports and lakeside recreation, were told to leave Tuesday.

On the Nevada-California border near Reno, the Davis Fire forced thousands of people to evacuate over the weekend, destroyed a home and dozens of buildings and burned nearly 9 square miles (23 square kilometers) of timber and brush along the eastern front of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

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