The 2025 Los Angeles Wildfires & Fires In General

Note from the author: This is a developing story. This article shouldn’t be taken as professional advice, as the author is not an expert. For more information, please consult corresponding professionals and official documents.

The Los Angeles wildfires have been raging on for more than a week now, and is still not fully controlled as of when this article is published. Today, we’re taking a deeper look at this wildfire, as well as fires as whole, and how hopefully we can avoid such disasters from happening.

The LA Wildfires

With more than 20 lives lost, more than 200,000 evacuated from surrounding regions, and ‘nearly 40,000 acres of homes businesses and landmarks’ scorched according to an article published on January 16th by the LA Times, this fire has no doubt had a devastating impact on the lives of a lot of individuals and families.

Although there are certainly a variety of reasons that made these fires particularly destructive, experts contributed it mainly due to strong winds and dry vegetation.

The Factors Behind Wildfires

The factors mentioned above aren’t exclusive to the LA fires though, and are just a portion of the possible circumstances that can lead to the arise of powerful wildfires.

When talking about wildfires in general, there are two types of factors.

Causes

Some fires start with natural causes, which encompass a wide range of factors. These include lightning strikes, volcanic eruptions, friction from natural events (like falling rocks), natural gas leaks, spontaneous combustion of organic materials, etc.

However, most fires (roughly 80-90%) are caused by humans, which are classified into intentional and unintentional. Deliberately setting fires is a serious crime known as arson, which can potentially bring with it the death penalty or other harsh punishments if convicted (so don’t do it).

Unintentionally setting fires are further differentiated by reckless behaviour and other. Reckless fires include failing to manage a campsite, improper disposal of cigarettes, failing to follow safety protocols regarding equipment usage, etc. Other fires can range from electrical failures to accidental ignition.

Circumstances

Although some causes are more likely to result in fires then others, the size of the actual wildfire more often depends on the circumstances and environment. Depending on factors like fuel, moisture levels, temperatures, firefighting conditions, slope degree and more, a fire can spread fast and become deadly, or doused before any serious damage occurs. For example, with shorter days, there is less time for the sun to warm the surface, meaning a damper environment, contributing to higher moisture levels, and less likely to result in fires.

How to Fight Wildfires

So far, we’ve discussed the contributing factors of wildfires. But how do firefighters actually fight wildfires, like those battling the LA fires? Well, we can summarize this process into 4 parts (what I’m about to cover is a hugely oversimplified process).

Surprisingly, the process of fighting wildfires begins before the first hose is even filled. There is a lot of preparation before any work starts, as firefighting teams have to assess the situation. Factors like slope degree and wind speed as well as direction are crucial in fighting fires, as firefighters have to use different tactics and approaches. For instance, uphill burns are generally faster, and a 10% increase in slope results in the fire spreading two to three times faster. So first responders have to take that into account.

After thoroughly assessing the situation, firefighters still can’t start their work, as they’ll have to establish a command structure first. This is to ensure that resources are coordinated efficiently. One system commonly used is the Incident Command System (ICS), with an Incident Commander (IC) being the highest-ranking official who makes strategic decisions and commands the overall firefighting response for an incident. In the 2025 LA wildfires, this system was also incorporated with Unified Command due to the involvement of several jurisdictions and agencies as well as local fire departments.

When these first two steps are finished, it’s finally time to start fighting the fire. When fighting wildfires, it’s common practice to establish something known as a fireline. It’s basically a strip of land that has been cleared of possibly combustible material, so that it helps slow or possibly even stop a wildfire’s progression. It’s this feature of firelines that makes them typically man-made. However, existing natural features such as lakes, rivers, roads, trails, rocky outcrops and barren land can also help in fighting wildfires. These features have a slightly different name, firebreaks, though they serve virtually the same purpose as firelines.

In addition, there are also other techniques that can be implemented against a wildfire. One of them is hot-spot identification. Through thermal-imaging cameras, infrared cameras and visual inspections, firefighters can identify areas within a wildfire that are still smoldering or burning, which may possibly reignite. After identifying such areas (if there are any), mop-up operations are used to put out the remaining hot-spots. There are a variety of methods that firefighters can use to achieve this, from cooling down hot-spots via water or foam, to removing any combustible material near the hot-spot. All this is to ensure that fires are properly extinguished.

Throughout the process of fighting fires, firefighters always try to minimize unnecessary collateral damage. That’s the fundamental reason behind why there are so many precautions, safety protocols, and steps taken to fight a fire.

How To Fight House Fires

Although wildfires are relatively rare, there is a type of fire that is much more prevalent, house fires. So how do firefighters respond to house fires?

Well, there are a lot of similarities between fighting a wildfire and a house fire.

For starters, assessment. Just like when fighting a wildfire, firefighters also have to assess a housefire. For example, the fire’s behaviour and dynamics, environmental factors like wind direction and speed, water supply and resources, etc. However, because it’s a house fire, firefighters also have to account for other influencing factors as well. These include the layout and construction material of the structure, the occupants of the structure, and crucially, risk assessment.

Risk assessment is not only assessing the circumstance of the scene, it also involves calculating the risk factors, such as potential hazards like explosions or structural collapse.

Following assessment, a command needs to be established. Similar to when fighting wildfires, it is common to utilize the Incident Command System (ICS), and have an Incident Commander (IC) in charge of the situation.

Then, firefighters have to secure a water supply. Thankfully, fire hydrants can be used to provide a continuous stream of water for fighting the house fire. However, the problem with hydrants is that they may not be near the fire site, so additional tanker trucks have to be deployed to get water from the hydrant to the site. With the water, the firefighters can fill up their water hoses, and await orders to engage.

But before the firefighters can jump into action, ventilation must be taken care of. This involves possibly creating an opening in the roof to clear smoke and improve firefighting visibility, which can be very helpful when firefighters are engaging with the fire. It is also necessary to monitor smoke, so that fire locations and hazards can be quickly identified.

Finally, it’s time to engage with the fire. Typically, the Incident Commander would have to make the decision on whether to use an offensive or defensive approach. This decision is mostly influenced by risk assessment. If the Incident Commander believes that the building is still able to be saved, then an offensive approach would probably be used. An offensive approach would commonly involve a pair of firefighters entering the building with hoses and try to extinguish the fire directly, while another pair of firefighters await outside the structure to possibly rush in and provide backup (though exact details may vary). But if they believe it’s too late to save the structure, then a defensive approach would be used, to contain the fire, but at a safe distance to ensure the relative safety of firefighters.

While fighting the fire, it is common practice for other firefighters to search for survivors, prioritizing areas that have the greatest likelihood of rescue. Here, tactics like room-to-room clearance could be used to ensure that everybody is out of danger’s way.

Firefighters would also continuously monitor the site, to ensure that hot-spots are mopped-up and tactics are adjusted if necessary.

Conclusion

Overall, the process of fighting a house fire is similar to that of a wildfire, though there are key differences like size and water supply that should be recognized.

However, the best way to fight a fire is no doubt to avoid it in the first place. Having habits such as checking the stoves and putting out campfires, as well as making sure cigarette butts are properly extinguished, can all help in reducing the rate that house fires and wildfires happen.

If you do happen to see a fire, notify emergency services such as 119 immediately, to ensure public safety and support the work of firefighters.

I hope that you learned something useful in this article. Remember to subscribe and share this article, to spread the awareness regarding fires. Thank you for reading, and stay safe!