Check out this article by the L.A. times, featuring CBI’s Dr. Alexandra Syphard, analyzing how the recent in L.A. fires began, and how fires like these are able to spread and grow to such significant scales.
While Santa Ana winds regularly occur at this time of year, these particularly strong gusts came through complex topography and terrain that can help them gain speed and funnel them in unpredictable ways, said Alexandra Syphard, senior research ecologist at the nonprofit Conservation Biology Institute and adjunct professor at San Diego State University. ‘When you’ve got winds like this, the fire is no longer spreading through the vegetation on the ground,’ she said. ‘The fire is spreading through the air.’
