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Ignition matters

Nature Sustainability volume 8, pages 327–328 (2025)Cite this article

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Many of the destructive fires in California are started by electricity-related ignitions, mainly during extreme winds2. To prevent such fires, utilities have implemented public safety power shut-offs (PSPS) as a fire prevention strategy during critical fire weather conditions; a practice that dates back to 2013 in Southern California. While the official causes of the LA fires are not yet determined, the Eaton fire started close to a powerline during one of the strongest Santa Ana wind events coincident with dry fuels in a decade. PSPS was implemented on some circuits on 7 January 2025, but preliminary information shows that the circuit co-located with the ignition was not de-energized.

Early investigations for the Palisades Fire suggest a possible source was the rekindling of a fire that was started by the New Year’s fireworks and believed to have been fully suppressed. This would not be the first time rekindling of ignitions occurred. The Calf Canyon Fire in New Mexico in April 2022, which merged with the Hermit’s Peak Fire to destroy more than 1,500 structures, was a holdover from a January pile burn that was not fully extinguished. There are other examples. ‘Zombie’ fires3 in permafrost burn under a pile of snow over the winter and carry smolders from one year to the next. Wildfires generally reduce hazardous fuels and mitigate the occurrence and intensity of subsequent fires in the same vicinity, but when a wildfire is not fully extinguished, the hazard reduction effect may be illusory if critical fire weather re-emerges.

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Fig. 1: Historical wildfires of coastal Southern California.

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Acknowledgements

M.S. and J.T.A. are supported by the Joint Fire Science Program (grant L21AC10247). We sincerely appreciate J. Prestemon of the US Forest Service for his invaluable contributions, including ideation, feedback, writing and editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA

    Mojtaba Sadegh & Seyd Teymoor Seydi

  2. United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, United Nations University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    Mojtaba Sadegh & Amir AghaKouchak

  3. Department of Management of Complex Systems, University of California, Merced, CA, USA

    John T. Abatzoglou

  4. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA

    Amir AghaKouchak

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  1. Mojtaba Sadegh
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  2. John T. Abatzoglou
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  4. Seyd Teymoor Seydi
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Correspondence to Mojtaba Sadegh.

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Sadegh, M., Abatzoglou, J.T., AghaKouchak, A. et al. Ignition matters. Nat Sustain 8, 327–328 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01527-7

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