‘Extreme heat caused by climate change’ worsening fires, California firefighter says

We spoke to David Acuna, battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and began by asking for his assessment of what’s happening with the fires.

David Acuna: The entire southern California region is actually under a red flag warning, upgraded to a PDS – or a particularly dangerous situation.

Cathy Newman: And the current statement has been that there’s no possibility of bringing these fires under control. Just spell out to us what that means.

David Acuna: You know, hose lines are not really going to be very effective against wind that’s blowing 100mph. So what we do instead is we remove all the people out of the way – we certainly want to protect homes as best as we can. But we have to focus on removing the people in front of the fire, which is why we issue evacuation warnings and evacuation orders.

Cathy Newman: Are people going willingly? They’re having to leave all their homes and their possessions, aren’t they?

David Acuna: It is a common issue for people to stay behind, hoping to protect their homes. And while I certainly understand their concern for their property, what happens is then we are forced to move people from the firefighting priority to the life safety priority, which, of course, is the most important.

Cathy Newman: So tell us then what you’re witnessing in terms of how this fire is behaving and the terrible scene that is confronting you and your officers.

David Acuna: So it absolutely is being blown by the wind, the north wind blowing it directly into these canyons and then the canyons themselves – the topography moving up and down – causes the winds to move in an unusual manner. And that is just completely unpredictable.

Cathy Newman: Have you yourself seen anything like this before?

David Acuna: You know, it’s not unusual to have fires like this in the late summer or early fall in southern California. What’s unusual is that we have these fires in January – that is a very, very unusual situation here, and we are surprised that it happened.

Cathy Newman: It’s rained barely at all for months, hasn’t it?

David Acuna: In the southern California area, that’s correct. There’s been just a scant amount of rain, not enough to wet the fuels that are on the ground. And then on top of that, we have the extreme heat we’ve been having over the last several years caused by climate change. And then the fact that we didn’t have a whole lot of fires in 2022 and 2023, which led to more fuel being on the ground.

Cathy Newman: You mentioned climate change and there is political doubt sometimes cast on that. But from your experience, what you’re witnessing, are you in no doubt that the heating climate makes these kind of fires more severe and more frequent?

David Acuna: There is no doubt that from 2017 to now, we have seen an incredible increase in the number of fires, the amount of acres burned, all of these things leading to a significant change that has occurred. And the fact that we are getting unusual weather patterns like in 2023 when we had the typhoon run right up to California. All this is unusual.

Cathy Newman: So what would be your message then to your incoming president, who has made some quite interesting statements on climate change? Would you like Donald Trump to come and see for himself what you’re dealing with?

David Acuna: You know, I’m lucky that we have already seen that our state governor has provided a state of emergency, and applied for a federal…fire management systems grant. So all of those things are benefits to the local community who are suffering right now.

Cathy Newman: And how long do you think California is going to burn for now?

David Acuna: These winds are expected to last until Friday. And then after that, we’re hoping to see some relief. Long-term projections may change. But that’s up to the National Weather Service to determine.