January 7, 2025. Southern California is experiencing a strong storm, causing many mountain fires. The storm is considered to be one of the strongest storms in the region for more than a decade, forcing many places to issue emergency evacuation orders and close many roads. Gavin Newson, the governor of California, said that the state was in a state of emergency because of mountain fires.

According to the California Fire Department, as of 18: 30 Western Time, the mountain fire in the Pacific Palisade area of Los Angeles has spread over 11.7 square kilometers. According to data from PowerOutage.us, an American power tracking website, more than 90,000 users in California are currently without power.

Mountain fires refer to large-scale fires that occur in mountainous areas or forests. Mountain fires are sometimes caused by natural factors such as lightning, falling rocks, glass reflections, etc. But more often than not, it is caused by human activities such as fireworks, barbecue, burning garbage, etc. Regardless of the reason, once a wildfire starts, it is difficult to stop. It will devour all combustibles, including trees, grass, houses, cars, etc. It will produce thick smoke and dust, polluting the air and water sources. It will threaten the safety of human and animal life, causing huge economic losses.

In order to provide electricity to these areas, transmission equipment often goes through forests. However, power supply companies often do not have enough funds and manpower to regularly maintain and update transmission equipment, and rarely prune trees around transmission lines. This will easily lead to mountain fires. In 2018, there was an unprecedented mountain fire in California: the Camp fire. The fire was caused by an aging power line. It killed 85 people, destroyed 18,804 buildings, forced more than 52,000 people to evacuate, and razed a small town called "Paradise".

The impact of California mountain fires is not limited to the state, but also affects the whole country and even the whole world. The smoke and dust produced by mountain fires will pollute the air quality and endanger the health of humans and animals. According to statistics, from 2018 to 2020, the number of bad and dangerous air quality days in the United States reached an unprecedented level, and about 137 million Americans lived in areas with poor air quality. California is one of the states most affected by mountain fires, and its air pollution ranks first.

Mountain fires will also lead to a large number of greenhouse gas emissions and aggravate global climate change. It is estimated that California's carbon dioxide emissions in the past two years are at the highest level in nearly 20 years. In 2021, wildfires in California released 161 million tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to about 40% of the state's emission inventory in 2020. The researchers also found that California mountain fires have a greater impact on global climate change than previously thought. They release greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and black carbon, which can lead to global temperature rise and further aggravate climate change.

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