People outside of LA truly don’t understand how apocalyptic this is. It’s worse than it’s ever been. Entire residential neighborhoods are burning to the ground.
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Yes, I do get it. I lived in Los Angeles for 30 years and experienced my share of wildfires and earthquakes and have never seen anything as horrific as what is happening in L.A. now. Pacific Palisades has essentially disappeared.
We definitely don't need a my fire worse competition! But to try to undermine someone who is freaking out because their city is on fire is so MAGA2025. Stop.
Yep. Now we got to enjoy a few nice years of fingerpointing at 'enemies' and more money for billionaires before it takes us all down. Drill baby drill!
We are all in the same boat and will all suffer the consequences. Wish we had done more before the election to get more voters engaged but I honestly had no idea that there were so many disengaged folks. 🤬
Since turning 18, I have voted in every single presidential election—NONE of the presidents looks like me, NOT ONE, but I show up every time. If ppl don’t vote, it’s on them. No one is babysitting my ass spoon feeding me info to get me to vote—99% of the ppl who didn’t vote have cell phones.
When man is left totally incapable of Handling Natural Disasters, the bigger Question is Why? There are soo many who choose to believe Nefarious Theories, Lies & Misinformation! Yet, LA is Burning & Man did not cause the Santa Anna Winds to reach Hurricane Force! No, GOD IS ANGRY & IS SPEAKING!
They lost the entirety of Lahaina and they have way less resources for help from others than mainlanders do, so let’s think a little before there’s a “my pain is worse” declaration. There’s also like only one main road out of the town which makes evacuation exponentially more difficult in Lahaina
I live in Sonoma County and lived this in 2017. All four corners of our city were on fire at once. It looked and felt like hell. Everything burned, people died. People also came together and supported each other like nothing I’ve ever seen. 🩷
I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy, but if it’s happening anyway, at least it’s not on his watch. Let’s hope the federal recovery funding gets allocated at lightning speed.
He’s almost certainly going to shit all over the part of disaster relief that starts on January 20th, e.g. by trying to extort political favors from California. But things would definitely be worse if this happened two weeks from now.
An entire suburban subdivision near Boulder CO also burned completely a few years back. The combo of climate change, intense winds, rocky terrain are potent in so many of our communities. Wishing for relief for LA.
I watched my entire county and a few counties around it burn to ash in the Dixie fire. Whole towns incinerated. 400ft tall flames. Evacuated for months and months. Sky blood red and so dark you gotta drive with headlights on in the middle of the day. I assure you, some of us absolutely do empathize
Not only does it never go away, but the recovery seems to never end. 3 years later and PG&E still hasn’t paid us our settlement for destroying our county and forcing us to live in a tent for half a year. The biggest slap in the face is their huge rate hike last year before we’ve even seen a dime
I am thankful I did get some money but I didn’t use it as wisely as I could have- I had some major PTSD and mental health issues for a few years after which made recovery even harder, and I didn’t always make the best choices. But it’s getting better. So much destruction is hard on the soul.
Three years ago, a fire took out more than a thousand homes in two towns next to us. We were just on the edge of the mandatory evacs. Same combo of drought and nasty wind. Now our wildland firefighters are headed your way, and our survivors will be offering their support to you. Stay strong.
The mutual support is amazing. People from everywhere helping others, then helping rebuild. At the people level, this country is amazing. (At the politician level, not so much!)
Unbelievable what you are going through! So devastating and unbelievable images! Severe drought keeps me on edge. This is a reminder that it's worth the time to digitize important photos and papers, or pay someone to do it. Make 2 copies and put in different locations.
Many eucalyptus trees 100 miles south of L.A. in San Diego where I am. They're oily & highly flammable. We've seen some devastating fires in densely populated areas in the recent past. Santa Ana winds that blow across Southern California are now a different kind of monster than what they used to be.
While the 🇺🇸 USrael continues to drop bombs entire residential neighborhoods leveled burning to the ground. Our nation can do so much better for so many.
I'm so sorry; I spent 3 years at UCLA, lots of time in the Palisades hiking. 3 Years living in the Miracle Mile with friends in Altadena. It's so awful. I cannot imagine. The horses alone... the people, the schools... I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry. People in NorCal are probably some of the only ones who get it after the many fires there.
I hope everyone can get out safely and that the fire crews are able to contain it soon. I know it will be a tough recovery effort for a lot of residents. Thinking of you all. 🙏
So much history that is just gone forever. So many animals and people and places. It’s overwhelming. I’m grieving the loss of places that are reduced to ashes where I spent so many decades creating memories. Grateful I’ll always have moments I’ll treasure. Prayers up for everyone going through this.
I sat gutted last night. I lived on Porto Marina in Palisades for years. Friends, neighbors, businesses, I just prayed. Then, 2 fires and *19* evac alerts in SF/Bay Area. Now, I just lived through Hurricane Helene. I am so sorry LA - My heart is with you.
My heart goes out to everyone affected by this. I hope we will all find a way to support the residents and first responders. They will need our support and help for a long, long time. Praying for their safety.
I lived in L.A. for 10 years (and loved it). I worked in mid-Wilshire so I'm very familiar with the area. It's heartbreaking to see the loss. With climate change catastrophes, this could be any of us at any moment.
🤣Exactly. Celebrities have an obligation to speak truth to power but have to be careful of word choices when speaking publicly.
Having nothing to do with @kumail.bsky.social though, who's a good actor, I'm sick of reading articles that name actors having to leave and then say 'and other residents'.
Things like this are why I get so pissed about things like EarthquakeSky popping up over normal shit. This is different and we need the attention NOW. But because everyone INSISTS on blowing up the socials socials over every 4.0?
Our fam out there are currently sheltering in place w evacuated friends & assume they will be evacuated soon as well. This is extremely scary & my heart goes out to everyone in the area.
Australians understand. In the summer of 2019 - 2020 our bushfire map looked like this. Our country has an area of 2,968,464 square miles & much of it was on fire that summer. AIt was an environmental, social & economic catastrophe & the country is still recovering.
That's because there is no "global community." The levers of power are all held by a tiny cabal of people who a) cause climate change; b) would lose $ if they had to address climate change and c) did not ask our permission and do not govern with our interests in mind.
In western democracies, where most emitting is done & climate change policy is made, we still have our vote. Sadly, we have been deluded into to electing CC deniers & obstructionists. People have a voice but once the crisis passes we forget the bigger issue. I hope it’s not too late.
True, but if we don’t make radical changes we’re not going to stay below 2 degrees of warming. We’re going to be at 1.5 in 5 years & that will be bad news for most people on the planet & all other living things. Some of the biggest emitters are still arguing about the science. It’s so frustrating.
I live on East coast, thanks Kumail. We had wildfires in NYC’s parks & a lot of woods around the city this year for first time in my life, not to equate it, but an unprecedented sign we’re all going to have to work through this together. Take care and hang tough.
I don’t think its a “people outside of LA thing” as much as it is… “Im a MAGAt & pro-fossil fuel $Brs, flat-earther, climate-crisis denier” dumbass😵💫🥴👹🧟🧟♀️🧟♂️ thing.
Midwest geologist here who has never been to Cali. In one of the first geo courses I took, I read a book written before I was born that argued human beings should not live in this area of the country due to the horrific natural events that would occur. Shockingly, no one listened to the geologists.
I understand the vastness n devastation of the fire. What I can’t do is to be in the mind of the ppl who are going through that. The fear, the hopelessness n the helplessness
Longtime climate activist here. I guess we need disasters just like this to finally press the point to more folks. And politicians... Not getting my hopes up very much.
I'm in Sonoma County, and I absolutely understand how bad it is. Sending all of you strength for the gut punches to come after the apocalypse is over. 💔
Canadians understand. We have lost entire towns due to climate change induced wildfires. Our Canadian fire fighting planes are helping fight the LA fires as I type.
It’s awful!!! In Seattle it’s been so wet, I hadn’t even considered wildfires being a worry for anyone on the west coast yet this year :(((
hopefully yall are actually going to be able to get the resources and help you’ll need to rebuild, even if you (unfortunately) have to push and fight for it 😞
I get it's hard to see outside of yourself. Trust me, I get it. But, there are a lot of us that 100% understand because we've lived it. You're discounting all of the wildfires that have happened before. This was my house in 2017. Thousands of homes looked like that. Just say "Many people don't"
I don’t think he means no one has ever seen fires before. We get wildfires every year and there’s always devastation. It’s the magnitude of the MULTIPLE fires. If your neighborhood isn’t on fire you’re likely surrounded by them.
I have an 11k acre fire to my right and a 16k acre fire to my left, with several small ones above me. Most of that land is residential and commercial. That’s about 40 sq miles on fire. My hometown of Pittsburgh is just under 60 sq miles.
Couple that with the insanely high winds we had for over 24 hours that made it impossible to get planes in to dump water. Firefighters had to stop and leave their hoses in several neighborhoods because it was unsafe.
Friends left their homes and evacuated across town only to have to evacuate again when a different fire spread to that side of town. The friends I know who’ve lost their homes all live miles away from each other.
The OP stated that no one could understand the devastation unless they were there. My point was that, yes, we can. This isn't new. A LOT of us have lived it. The OP sounds like a rich, out of touch person who didn't care until it impacted him. That was the point.
I said scope doesn't matter to point out that a smaller fire is just as devastating to those that experience it. Right now Palisades is at 17k acres. Devastating. Going to grow. Will be terrible. Massive scope. Tubbs Fire (my fire) was 38k acres. 5800 structures were destroyed. We understand.
Do you also balk at the firefighters who state that they’ve never seen anything like this in the decades they’ve been working? Or people whose job it is to study these things that say this is one of the worst natural disaster to hit LA and will cost hundreds of billions (100x Tubbs) to recover?
I'm so sorry. We had one in 2017 licking at our feet near Peters Canyon. We were devastated in that we'd never seen such chaos with fire. Obviously, it's getting worse. I hope you and your family are much better now.
None of our family was hurt. I was deployed at sea at the time but able to get home within two days. We're a lot better now. Everyone still has emotional scars but they say they make you stronger.
I'm so happy to read this. It's all about attitude and what we learn during these difficult times. Normally, it's what more could we have done? My lists always get longer during trials like these.
Lack of water to fight fires is hard. Getting as many planes set up for air water drops is what Australia had to do post 2019. And no matter what any conservatives say, this was all foretold, by scientists and data, due to climate change. Everything will become worse upon worse in each instance.
Australians get it. Our fires are also intensifying and those twister fires are effing terrifying. Our thoughts are with LA. For this to be happening in Winter is horrific and clearly related to climate crisis. Take care. Show compassion people.
People in rural areas had entire towns burn down (Camp Fire, 2018, Paradise, Butte County; Dixie Fire, 2021 Greenville, Canyon Dam; Plumas County) and do know how bad your situation is and how hard the future will be, though chances are more resource will flow to urban LA vs to rural places.
It shouldn’t be a competition - we all need to address climate change and wildfire fighter pay and working conditions and rework how fire insurance works and learn how to effectively recover. A lot of hard work ahead.
So sorry to hear this is happening. I live in Australia and experienced a bushfire a few years ago that came very close to our house. Please, have a realistic emergency evacuation plan ready if you live anywhere where there's a fire risk.
I'll admit, being out in the Midwest, it does feel like "California is on fire in the winter again", which... Not belittling that at all, it's awful, but it IS hard to see this one as different from what I see.
Really sad to hear it is worse and in more populated areas.
Grew up in the San Gabriel Valley and my heart is broken for family, friends, and total strangers. Even at a distance, it's like watching a big chunk of your life disappear. The entire country needs to do everything possible to help LA.
That is why I like you so much, you are a local 😉 I was born in Arcadia. That reason, along with your intelligent updates also. Tough time here in CA right now, no way things stood a chance with those winds.
Trump is already blaming Biden and Newsom. His accusations about why this happened and how it could have been avoided are astonishing. He is a very troubled individual. This country is in serious trouble.
I grew up there, and my heart is breaking. And I'm trying to get in touch with one of my partners' uncle who is in part of the Eaton Fire Evacs (he's in Sierra Madre).
We here in Santa Rosa (of the Tubbs fire in 2017) definitely feel your pain. Except it’s somehow even crazier it’s happening in such a vast metro as LA. I’m so sorry for what everyone’s going through.
I lived in LA for over 40 years. I know all of those neighborhoods and how widespread and devastating this is. It breaks my heart to see my home town burning.
Without exaggeration, what happened in Lahaina two years ago just happened in Pacific Palisades. The level of devastation is on par. Homes. Businesses. The downtown. Wiped out. Similar issues too. Water pressure. Resources. Access. We have to grapple with how to do all of this better. #StayStrongLA
We are watching & yes, cannot imagine looking out my front windows to see smoke and flames burning its way to my house! Heartbroken - akin to catastrophic climate events in NC - total destruction. Can't comprehend until you are in it.
We've all had our own disasters and we do understand. Tornados, hurricanes, floods. Everyone is watching and hoping for the best, but even after it's over, it will be impossible to relate the event to anyone not there. We're watching all of it we can, though.
Seriously tho. Our thoughts and best wishes with the people of LA. We know how bad this can be. I've personally been evacuated and know how scary it can be not knowing if you'll have a house to come home to. I just pray you guys don't get our fire tornadoes.
I unfortunately understand this as my entire town burned in 2018 in Northern California. I hate inducting new members into this club, it’s a LONG, shitty recovery I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.
I’m just so sad—but also angry. Climate scientists have been warning about this for decades. Decades. Big money buried this story so deep it drowned. No, no, we have to provide jobs, we have to satisfy our stockholders, we can’t change the way we do things. Fuckers. I hope their homes burn too.
Friends of mine were so devastated they couldn’t face rebuilding for a few years even tho insured. When they finally started the brick supplier donated their bricks 🤞🏻without saying anything
No, we do get it. Florida was on fire back in the late 90’s. Yes, nearly the whole state at once. My dad left to make sure everyone continued to have phone service and we didn’t see him for over 3 months. We feel for California ❤️
If you want justice then look no further than the deregulated corporations that have been slowly destroying our world. A careless cigarette butt, a deliberate act, is all it takes to burn everything down.
If their buying of our elections wasn't enough, if your homes burning down isn't enough...
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Nowhere is safe anymore and we have handed the world over to climate deniers. 💔
We are truly sorry for this catastrophe
Sending millions of healing, hugs and love to all California
You might be surprised by how many actually do know.
That’s all I was saying.
I'm so sorry.
I hope everyone can get out safely and that the fire crews are able to contain it soon. I know it will be a tough recovery effort for a lot of residents. Thinking of you all. 🙏
Trumps going to withhold then California should withhold too
🙏🙏🙏🙏
Maui understands. 😞
Lahaina understands. 😭
I'm so, so sorry
Not only does each global citizen have our own fires to manage, global climate change and social injustices continue in every part of the world.
Having nothing to do with @kumail.bsky.social though, who's a good actor, I'm sick of reading articles that name actors having to leave and then say 'and other residents'.
Things like this are why I get so pissed about things like EarthquakeSky popping up over normal shit. This is different and we need the attention NOW. But because everyone INSISTS on blowing up the socials socials over every 4.0?
"Well, SoCal is on fire again, as usual!"
Hopefully, this will result in real global warming action.
Yes, these fires yesterday/today are devastating, and we're all shocked and alarmed at what is happening.
No "but". Just... that's it. It's all bad.
hopefully yall are actually going to be able to get the resources and help you’ll need to rebuild, even if you (unfortunately) have to push and fight for it 😞
We understand
Many hurricanes and floods in North Carolina over the years
It’s surreal. A community is there, then poof, there’s nothing.
Really sad to hear it is worse and in more populated areas.
This is what matter, this is what is important.
After that, probably not. Because CA didn’t vote for Trump.
Seriously tho. Our thoughts and best wishes with the people of LA. We know how bad this can be. I've personally been evacuated and know how scary it can be not knowing if you'll have a house to come home to. I just pray you guys don't get our fire tornadoes.
So, yeah -- it's exceptional right now.
Either way, I’m sorry that happened.
These people are not #christian in any sense of the word
If their buying of our elections wasn't enough, if your homes burning down isn't enough...