California Wildfires are NOT Climate Driven
‘Low-information journalists fail to address more immediate, actionable causes’
By Katy Grimes, January 11, 2025 8:37 am
Yesterday the Sacramento Bee claimed that the Palisades fires are because of climate change. “No joke,” as the outgoing President likes to say.
Sacramento Bee: Climate change fueled LA area wildfires in CA, experts say
PBS: Warming climate created ‘perfect storm’ for catastrophic fires, NASA researcher says
NBC Los Angeles: The clear links between the California wildfires and climate change
New York Times: The California Wildfires Are the Latest Disaster Supercharged by climate change: “Extreme weather events — deadly heat waves, floods, fires and hurricanes — are the consequences of a warming planet, scientists say.”
Do these reporters actually believe the fires were the result of rising temperatures around the globe, instead of being fueled by dense vegetation that had built up over years, as is the case with the Palisades fire?
Claiming that these fires are because of climate change is patently absurd. I don’t think anyone who just watched their home and neighborhood and their kids’ schools burn to the ground is thinking “that damned climate change…”
Most people actually know that the “climate change” moniker is the latest catch-all for dull and deceitful politicians, and low-information journalists as cover for their incompetence and corruption. It’s also a good excuse for politicians to redistribute taxpayer funds to shady NGOs and non-profit organizations which claim that more public money will solve the climate problem – eventually.
Anthony Watts, a meteorologist (and has been a contributor to the Globe), published an article at his website, Watts Up With That?, and explains why climate change did not cause these latest fires:
The current fires, like many before them, are largely driven by well-documented weather phenomena, historical land-use patterns, and human decisions—not by a nebulous, all-encompassing narrative of “climate factors.”
California’s relationship with fire predates the Industrial Revolution and certainly modern climate discussions. Historical records and studies consistently demonstrate that large wildfires have been a natural part of the state’s ecosystem for millennia. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the frequency of large wildfires in Southern California has remained relatively consistent over the last century, with human settlement and land management playing a much larger role than global temperature trends (source).
Watts includes a map of wildfires dating back to 1878 which shows that wildfires are endemic to California.
He also differentiates actual “weather” events from “climate change:”
Santa Ana winds are a short-term weather event, not a long-term climate trend.
A critical factor in the Los Angeles wildfires is the role of the infamous Santa Ana winds, which are neither new nor related to climate change. These dry, gusty winds are a recurring weather phenomenon caused by high-pressure systems over the Great Basin that force hot, dry air down through Southern California’s mountain passes. They’ve been a well-documented driver of wildfires for as long as records exist.
Land management is crucial and a factor in the Palisades fires.
Decades of fire suppression policies have allowed dry brush, dead trees, and dense vegetation to accumulate, creating the perfect conditions for catastrophic fires. The Palisades Fire, for instance, was fueled by dense vegetation that had built up over years, according to reports cited by Newsweek.
Urban sprawl into fire-prone areas—the wildland-urban interface—further exacerbates the problem.
Watts concludes:
The rush to attribute every fire to climate change oversimplifies the issue and distracts from actionable solutions. Improving forest management, enforcing defensible space requirements, and addressing urban sprawl into fire-prone areas are steps we can take today.
It is crucial to separate hype from reality. These fires are not proof of a climate crisis but a reminder of the importance of thoughtful land management and disaster preparedness.
Please read his entire article – it’s excellent and important, and cuts through the hyperbole and stupidity of the left. “The media’s fixation on climate change as a universal scapegoat leaves critical factors like land management, urban planning, and fire prevention under-discussed.”
Why California Wildfires are NOT Climate Driven: A Historical and Meteorological Perspective.
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For God’s sake! Will NOTHING make them drop their endless lies? About everything?
And to continue to beat the dead horse of “climate change” so cluelessly and irrelevantly is just plain STUPID. Don’t they realize it turns the spotlight on them and their crap MORE, not LESS?
Too bad for the usual suspect politicians and bureaucrats and go-along journalists who have completely abandoned their responsibility to inform the public in a disaster zone, and all the rest of ’em, that we’re zeroing in on them and their crimes in huge numbers. They will not escape the consequences coming to them.
How many billions of dollars have been diverted to the cult religion of “climate change”? It is nothing more than a wealth redistribution scheme. The money transferred to government agencies and NGO political cronies has not resulted in the Earth’s temperature being lowered by one one-thousandth of a degree. On the other hand the LA fires have emitted more toxic gasses than all the automobiles produce in a year. Those who embrace the climate cult are simply useful idiot pawns in the greatest scam ever perpetrated by man.
EXACTLY, Fed Up.
That is 100% based @FedUp!
Right on cue, deep-state legacy propaganda media outlets like the Sacramento Bee, NY Times, NBC, etc. are trying to blame “climate change” as the cause of the fires while giving a free pass to criminal Democrats like Gov. Gavin “Hair-gel Hitler” Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass for their intentional negligence. Thankfully as Katy Grimes mentioned, more and more people have caught on to the fact that “climate change” is the latest catch-all for dull and deceitful politicians to redistribute taxpayer funds to shady NGOs and non-profit organizations and for low-information journalists as cover for their incompetence and corruption.
Also right on cue are the leftwing Hollywood celebrities who are trying to blame climate change as the cause of the fires–most of whom owe their careers to the deep-state and who sold their souls to the dark side for fame and wealth? Take for example a lifelong outspoken Democrat like 82 year old Barbra Streisand who declared in a post on the left-wing echo chamber Bluesky that the strong winds carrying wildfires across Los Angeles are “due to climate change” and demanded that “this coming government better address” it. Some have noted that her exclusive 22.5-acre walled and gated estate with 24 hour armed security in Malibu has somehow managed to avoid the many fires over the years while other stars have lost their Malibu homes to fire like Mel Gibson who criticized Gov. Gavin “Hair-gel Hitler” Newsom and told him to take care of the urban forest and spend less on hair gel.
(https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2025/01/10/barbra-streisand-winds-pushing-los-angeles-wildfires-are-due-to-climate-change/)
TJ: Clearly the woman is unmoored from reality with her giant protected estate with all bells and whistles. Right? Actually it would be better if it were only equipped with bells and whistles; less energy consumption. What a gal.
Al Gore, same thing. All those energy-sucking mansions and private jet travel, just to name two green sins. Oh, brother. My jaw dropped when I saw that place of his in Montecito, and the inside, too. You’d think such hypocrisy would be literally paralyzing, never mind embarrassing, but nooooo……. Not a flicker of discomfort from that guy.
The Mindless Left needs a catch-all excuse for everything they see. GW is the new “the dog ate my homework”.
When Michael Shellenberger was running for Gov he memorably said about Gov Gruesome:
“When Newsom is criticized, he looks around for someone to blame. When he can’t find anyone, he blames ‘climate change’.”
I love that response! Newsom has already began singing that tired tune!
I pray that after the smoke clears, we get the truth and it sure as heck is not the catch all excuse “climate change”. I mean come on they have blamed Climate Change for mass shootings and terrorist activities!
This is just another glaring example of how dishonest the legacy media is. They know they have lost credibility, yet still read from the same tired playbook!
I am so thankful for Katy’s journalistic integrity!
Independent journalists just may save their dying profession!
If this catastrophe does not jolt the liberal mind back to reality then there is no hope for this state!