LA’s perfect firestorm: How a tiny spark in a back yard turned into the city’s worst ever fire in HOURS and incinerated 20 square miles of mansions - and it’s still out of control
A perfect storm of overgrown vegetation, dry conditions and uncharacteristic winds are responsible for whipping up the most devastating wildfire Los Angeles has ever seen with more than 20 square miles razed to the ground in less than 48 hours.
The stunning time-lapse, stitched together from various live webcams, showed how a small plume of grey smoke began rising in a ‘back garden’ on the city’s outskirts on Tuesday morning.
At first the smoke seemed innocuous but within minutes the plume had developed into a thick cloud as the flames began tearing through bone-dry shrubbery.
Before long, the City of Angels was ablaze and now, less than 48 hours on from the initial spark, the wildfire is on track to be the most destructive blaze ever, having ripped through the glitzy celebrity mansions and causing an estimated $48 billion in damage.
LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley believes the fire started accidentally in a back garden around 10am Tuesday morning. She told reporters the fire is ‘spreading at a speed beyond anything we’ve seen... it’s now unlike anything we have seen in our lifetime.’
The prospect of such an infernal firestorm was raised by podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan last summer, who recounted a chilling conversation he’d had with an LA firefighter.
Speaking to guest and fellow comedian Sam Morril in the July 2024 episode, Rogan recounted: ‘He said: ‘’One day, it’s just gonna be the right wind and fire’s gonna start in the right place and it’s gonna burn through LA all the way to the ocean and there’s not a f***ing thing we can do about it’’.
‘If the wind hits the wrong way, it’s just going to burn through LA,’ he said.
What are the chances?