LA-based socialist Clare Fester say the fires are not a ‘natural disaster', but are fuelled by climate change—and cuts mean fire departments can't respond properly
LA wildfires have destroyed homes and killed 24 people
By Camilla Royle
Monday 13 January 2025
SOCIALIST WORKER Issue 2938
As Donald Trump prepares for his inauguration as United States president, wildfires are ripping through Los Angeles. They are among the worst disasters the city has seen.
The fires have killed at least 24 people and many more have been seriously injured. There are multiple uncontrollable fires that have burned more than 40,000 acres in total. More than 12,000 homes and other buildings have been engulfed by flames and tens of thousands of people ordered to evacuate.
LA-based socialist Clare Fester, said, “This unfolding catastrophe is anything but a ‘natural’ disaster.
“Not only have climate scientists warned for decades about exactly this kind of destruction, the people in power have systematically undermined the social services necessary to get the fires like these under control.”
Many of the dead are older and disabled people who were not able to leave their homes. Victor Shaw, who was 66 years old, was found dead with a hose in his hand after telling his sister he wanted to try to save his home of 55 years.
“When I went back in and yelled out his name, he didn’t reply back, and I had to get out because the embers were so big and flying like a firestorm—I had to save myself,” his sister Shari said.
LA is known for property developments for the mega rich—alongside one of the highest rates of homelessness anywhere in the US. People living outside are especially at risk from choking on smoke caused by the wildfires.
Clare explained that the city’s mayor, Democrat Karen Bass, had made nearly £15 million worth of cuts to the LA Fire Department. The fire department warned that this would affect helicopter coordination and pilot training.
At the same time, funding for the Los Angeles Police Department has gone up—they need more money to support their violence. Much of the increase in their funding is for liability payouts, such as £15 million spent compensating the family of a disabled man murdered by an off duty cop.
The LAPD paid £10 million to a man left with a brain injury after a car crash—caused by a police detective running a red light. And nearly a third of those sent out to fight the fires are incarcerated people. Prison labour helps compensate for the shortage of funding in the fire service.
They do dangerous work on the frontlines with minimal training and for the equivalent of £2.40 a day.
The fires have been whipped up by the strong Santa Ana winds, which blow dry air from the desert towards California. But high temperatures due to climate change are also making fires like these a regular occurrence.
Clare said, “Mutual aid networks are doing stellar jobs taking care of evacuated people and providing essential services.
“But we need more than distribution systems for aid, we need a society run for the planet and the people who live on it, not the wealthy few who are hellbent on destroying it.”
The wealthy buy protection and leave neighbours to burn
The Marxist writer Mike Davis showed in his 1998 book Ecology of Fear how the mega-rich of the City of Dreams had built their properties higher and higher into the mountains. The property development boom provided more fuel for the fires.
This time fires have reached the glamorous residents of the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood. Millionaire Keith Wasserman provoked outrage by offering in a post on X to pay “any amount” for private firefighters to protect his home.
Real estate developer Rick Caruso hired a fire engine and a dozen private firefighters as a preventative measure—while the state fire department struggled to contain the blaze.
One of them told the LA Times that he had a full time job for the Los Alamitos Fire Department but had contracted his services to Caruso while off duty. Some private firms are contracted by insurance companies. They increase class divisions by letting the rich hang on to their assets.
As Donald Trump prepares for his inauguration as United States president, wildfires are ripping through Los Angeles. They are among the worst disasters the city has seen.
The fires have killed at least 24 people and many more have been seriously injured. There are multiple uncontrollable fires that have burned more than 40,000 acres in total. More than 12,000 homes and other buildings have been engulfed by flames and tens of thousands of people ordered to evacuate.
LA-based socialist Clare Fester, said, “This unfolding catastrophe is anything but a ‘natural’ disaster.
“Not only have climate scientists warned for decades about exactly this kind of destruction, the people in power have systematically undermined the social services necessary to get the fires like these under control.”
Many of the dead are older and disabled people who were not able to leave their homes. Victor Shaw, who was 66 years old, was found dead with a hose in his hand after telling his sister he wanted to try to save his home of 55 years.
“When I went back in and yelled out his name, he didn’t reply back, and I had to get out because the embers were so big and flying like a firestorm—I had to save myself,” his sister Shari said.
LA is known for property developments for the mega rich—alongside one of the highest rates of homelessness anywhere in the US. People living outside are especially at risk from choking on smoke caused by the wildfires.
Clare explained that the city’s mayor, Democrat Karen Bass, had made nearly £15 million worth of cuts to the LA Fire Department. The fire department warned that this would affect helicopter coordination and pilot training.
At the same time, funding for the Los Angeles Police Department has gone up—they need more money to support their violence. Much of the increase in their funding is for liability payouts, such as £15 million spent compensating the family of a disabled man murdered by an off duty cop.
The LAPD paid £10 million to a man left with a brain injury after a car crash—caused by a police detective running a red light. And nearly a third of those sent out to fight the fires are incarcerated people. Prison labour helps compensate for the shortage of funding in the fire service.
They do dangerous work on the frontlines with minimal training and for the equivalent of £2.40 a day.
The fires have been whipped up by the strong Santa Ana winds, which blow dry air from the desert towards California. But high temperatures due to climate change are also making fires like these a regular occurrence.
Clare said, “Mutual aid networks are doing stellar jobs taking care of evacuated people and providing essential services.
“But we need more than distribution systems for aid, we need a society run for the planet and the people who live on it, not the wealthy few who are hellbent on destroying it.”
The wealthy buy protection and leave neighbours to burn
The Marxist writer Mike Davis showed in his 1998 book Ecology of Fear how the mega-rich of the City of Dreams had built their properties higher and higher into the mountains. The property development boom provided more fuel for the fires.
This time fires have reached the glamorous residents of the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood. Millionaire Keith Wasserman provoked outrage by offering in a post on X to pay “any amount” for private firefighters to protect his home.
Real estate developer Rick Caruso hired a fire engine and a dozen private firefighters as a preventative measure—while the state fire department struggled to contain the blaze.
One of them told the LA Times that he had a full time job for the Los Alamitos Fire Department but had contracted his services to Caruso while off duty. Some private firms are contracted by insurance companies. They increase class divisions by letting the rich hang on to their assets.
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