NBC’s National Climate Reporter Chase Cain explains why the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles has been so horrific.
Fire continues to spread throughout neighborhoods across the Los Angeles Area.
More than 5,000 acres and 1,000 structures had burned as of Wednesday morning, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate with many more expected to join them in the coming 24 to 48 hours.
The spread of the fire has been fueled by a combination of high winds and unusually dry conditions, said NBC's National Climate Reporter Chase Cain.
"We've had wind gusts of well above 100 miles an hour I mean, Category 4 or 5 hurricane strength wind gusts," Cain said. "That's one of the main things that's been fueling these fires, helping them spread so quickly."
Los Angeles Fire Department chief Kristin Crowley told reporters that, in her 25-year-career, she has never seen winds like the powerful blasts that swept through Pacific Palisades.
The extreme winds are expected to continue into Thursday,
"When you have winds that strong," Cain said, "it's just impossible to get any containment to get these fires under control."
The winds have followed what Cain described as an abnormally dry period for Los Angeles, during which the area has not had significant rainfall in nearly nine months.
"This is the time of year where Los Angeles and Southern California should be getting rain, should have like four inches," Cain said. "Instead, we have less than 2/10 of an inch."
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That combination has created an incredibly daunting challenge for Los Angeles area firefighters.
"So really dry conditions, low humidity, and then you add these just intense, brutal winds, and that is allowing these fires to spread so quickly, spread much faster than firefighters can handle," Cain said.
The fire in the Pacific Palisades area is one of four wildfires burning Wednesday in Los Angeles County.
"There are not enough firefighters in LA County to address four separate fires of this magnitude," Los Angeles County Fire chief Anthony Marrone said at a Wednesday news conference. "The LA County Fire Department was prepared for one or two major wildfires, but not the four. This is not a normal red flag alert."
