The chronicle of a fire foretold | Rebecca Solnit

The current fires in Los Angeles are reminders of the costs of forgettingThe fires raging in and around Malibu are huge, and they're terrible, and they're also the latest in a series of catastrophic fires in Los Angeles county and the region, the latest consequence of heat and drought and wind that have long created the region's volatile fire weather.The climate crisis has made it hotter and dryer and made wildfire worse here and across the west and around the world, but this region's ecology has always been wedded to fire. Homes built in and around natural landscapes - canyons, chaparral coastal hills, forests, mountainsides - with a history of wildfire that are pretty much guaranteed to burn again sooner or later create the personal tragedies and losses and the pressure for fire crews to try to contain the blazes. But suppressing the blazes lets the fuel load build up, meaning that fire will be worse when it comes.Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. She is the author of Orwell's Roses and co-editor with Thelma Young Lutunatabua of the climate anthology Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility Continue reading...