Salon / Brian Karem - (archived: https://archive.ph/HNK3u ) The LA conflagration: It is now painfully clear what matters
The wildfires in Los Angeles are a harbinger of our doom -- yet ultimately leave me with hope
By Brian Karem
White House columnist
Published January 13, 2025 6:00AM (EST)
Updated January 13, 2025 1:08PM (EST)
The helicopter blades beat through the smoldering air no more than a couple hundred feet above my head. At ground level, the scent of fire brings back memories of fire pits I'd seen at "Cement City" during the Gulf War. As the helicopter passes overhead on the way to the nearby fire, my middle son, his wife, their son and daughter, hurry to pack the car and leave their home near West Hills, California, after the outbreak of the Kenneth Fire. Neighbors pack up and move out as well. Traffic in the area is at a standstill.
And while the residents packed and fled, firefighters scrambled to give those fleeing extra time to do so even as the fierce winds whipped up the fire in a drought-stricken land, making any effort to contain it problematic at best and futile at worst. Those in LA spearheading the effort to put out half a dozen wildfires apparently diverted some of the air resources from the Palisades and Eaton fires to assist, slowing the growth of the West Hills fire which still grew from five acres to nearly 1000 acres in a matter of hours. After burning more than 1,000 acres in the San Fernando Valley since Jan. 10, the Kenneth Fire has now been 100% contained.
The day before, the Pacific Palisades fire had prompted the evacuation of my oldest son and his fiancée from their home in Santa Monica. This monstrous fire, which began Monday and reached nearly 24,000 acres by Sunday evening, had destroyed some of the most expensive and picturesque residential real estate in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As the sun set Thursday, the fire's eerie red glow and thick acrid smoke smell permeated everything from Malibu east through the Palisades and Santa Monica. Ash fell in Santa Monica which contained burned paper and rubbish and looked like snow on a cool winter night.
The Santa Monica police were in tactical mode -- every officer worked 12 hours on and 12 hours off. Police and fire fighters worked around the clock, not only trying to stifle the growing conflagration but keeping watch for potential looters. I spotted one man with a hammer and a flashlight looking furtively around my son's neighborhood. Another man approached my son's open car when he went inside to grab more clothes. The man looked inside the car and didn't see me standing nearby or my son when he walked out of his apartment. "Hey, what's up?" I asked. The man stopped. My son, walking out of his apartment, captured the man's attention. After looking at us both, he turned and walked away without saying anything.
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