One Year On from the Palisades Fire That Devastated California: Its Echoes of the Camp Fire and the Reality of "Fire" We in Japan Should Prepare For
Last weekend, driving on a freeway near Los Angeles, the hillsides looked just as they did on that day a year ago. Charred, blackened trees stand dead, and in many places, ash still blankets the slopes. Yes, it's almost been a year since the Palisades Fire shook Southern California in January 2025.
That day, the dry, fierce Santa Ana winds sweeping down from the Santa Monica Mountains rapidly fanned the flames. The affluent neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades was quickly engulfed, forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate. Wildfires erupted simultaneously across Southern California, making national news as the January 2025 Southern California wildfires. Fortunately, fatalities from the Palisades Fire were kept to a minimum, but the area burned reached approximately 10,000 acres (equivalent to about 850 Tokyo Domes).
A Scene Evoking the Nightmare of the Camp Fire
Seeing this devastation, I can't help but be reminded of memories from seven years ago: the Camp Fire that struck the same California in November 2018. Back then, the small northern town of Paradise was utterly obliterated. I went to the scene myself; it looked like a war zone. The remains of 85 people were found in the ashes, and many others were never accounted for. The Camp Fire lives on in infamy as the deadliest wildfire in California's history.
Palisades and Camp. What these two wildfires share is that they both occurred in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI). In areas where housing developments border forests and wildlands, once a fire takes hold, it's nearly impossible to stop. In California, where climate change is driving increasing aridity, wildfires are no longer merely "extreme weather" but are becoming a "seasonal reality."
What We in Japan Can Learn
You might think, "That's their problem, not ours." But Japan is far from unaffected. The massive fire in Itoigawa City, Niigata Prefecture, in 2016 saw urban areas consumed one after another by flames driven by strong winds. Here in Kobe, my hometown, we should have learned hard lessons from the fires following the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. However, the crucial thing is to integrate "preparedness" into our daily lives.
In California, authorities urge the following measures before each wildfire season. Every single one can be adapted for use in Japan.
- Create defensible space: Keep areas within 5 metres of your home clear of dead vegetation, firewood, and other fuel.
- Prepare an emergency kit: Have a backpack ready with important documents, water, food, masks, and other essentials you can grab if you need to evacuate.
- Share an evacuation plan with your family: Fires can start in the middle of the night, so plan multiple escape routes and a designated meeting point.
- Check hazard maps: Regularly review information from your local authority to understand if your area is at risk from wildfires.
The last point is particularly important. In Japan too, visualisation efforts are progressing, such as the Forestry Agency's recent release of "Wildfire Prevention Maps." Living in a city doesn't automatically guarantee safety. After all, Pacific Palisades was an upscale residential area that turned to scorched earth in an instant.
Don't Just Remember Fires, Record Them
The exact number of victims from the Camp Fire remains unconfirmed even now. That's a testament to the sheer scale of the catastrophe. Similarly, for those who lost their homes in the Palisades Fire, the struggle to rebuild their lives continues. What we can do is ensure these events aren't forgotten. And I hope that if a similar disaster ever strikes Japan, these experiences might one day help save someone's life.
Tonight, if sirens wailed, would you be able to evacuate without hesitation? "Fire" always strikes suddenly. The scorched earth of California seems to pose that very question, quietly but insistently.