Some Hollywood personalities affected by the wildfire in California shared social media posts of how much the environmental disaster has damaged their residences.
The most populous state of the United States of America is home to celebrities and famous personalities in Hollywood.
As early as July 2018, California began to suffer a series of wildfires initially located in the northern region. However, it persisted in August and a national disaster was eventually declared in the state.
By November 2018, winds from the downward side of mountains caused a new round of wildfires to happen.
This included Camp Fire, which is now touted as the most destructive wildfire to have occurred throughout California’s history. Its origin was determined to be on Camp Creek Road.
As of November 13, the death count of Camp Fire has reached 48.
READ: Teams ‘look for skulls’ in ashes of California’s deadliest wildfire
Famous personalities whose residences have been affected include Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga and Orlando Bloom, among others.
Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth
The couple lost their mansion on Malibu with the exception of their stone signage that spelled “love.”
Malibu is located at the southern region of California.
Hemsworth shared a picture of their house that was completely burned down and wrote that “many people in Malibu and (the) surrounding areas in California have lost their homes” as well.
His fiancée, Cyrus, tweeted that despite their mansion being destroyed, they were still among the “lucky ones.”
Completely devestated by the fires affecting my community. I am one of the lucky ones. My animals and LOVE OF MY LIFE made it out safely & that’s all that matters right now. My house no longer stands but the memories shared with family & friends stand strong. I am grateful for
— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) November 12, 2018
Lady Gaga
The singer-actress in a series of tweets expressed her gratitude to the team of firefighters and everyone who helped the victims of the wildfire, particularly in Los Angeles and the Ventura Counties.
She was one of those who were evacuated from Malibu.
I am thinking so deeply for everyone who is suffering today from these abominable fires & grieving the loss of their homes or loved ones. I’m sitting here with many of you wondering if my home will burst into flames. All we can do is pray together & for each other. God Bless You.
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) November 10, 2018
I’m so grateful I love you and god bless you to all the firefighters and first responders who continue fighting this fire. You risk your lives for us, and I’m so humbled by your bravery. You are our heroes. #WoolsleyFire
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) November 11, 2018
Kim Kardashian
The socialite and television personality shared that their residence on Hidden Hills was not spared from the disaster.
Hidden Hills is a gated community in Los Angeles that serves as the residential area of famous personalities like Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony and Britney Spears.
I heard the flames have hit our property at our home in Hidden Hills but now are more contained and have stopped at the moment. It doesn’t seems like it is getting worse right now, I just pray the winds are in our favor. God is good. I’m just praying everyone is safe 🙏🏼
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) November 9, 2018
Caitlyn Jenner
The transgender parent of Kim Kardashian shared a video on Instagram that documented how the fire affected the areas surrounding Malibu, especially the hills which have turned black in color.
“It was devastating out here in Malibu, you can see the hills are just totally scorched. Fried, to say the least,” Jenner said.
Orlando Bloom
The “Lord of the Rings” actor shared a picture of his street in Beverly Hills, where part of it was engulfed in flames. It was taken during the evacuation.
Beverly Hills is home to many big-time personalities like Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Harry Styles, Ellen DeGeneres and Floyd Mayweather, among others.
The case of wildfires
Wildfires are defined by National Geographic as a series of “uncontrolled blazes fueled by weather, wind and dry underbrush.”
They usually happen in rural areas that have combustible vegetation. Environmental conditions that determine the possibility of a wildfire happening include fuel, oxygen and a heat source.
A fuel may refer to any flammable object or material that surrounds a fire—be it trees, grasses, bushes or even houses.
“The greater an area’s fuel load, the more intense the fire. Air supplies the oxygen a fire needs to burn. Heat sources help spark the wildfire and bring fuel to temperatures hot enough to ignite,” the magazine reported.
However, wildfires can also occur through the action of humans and in unusual areas like residential communities.
A study titled “Human-started wildfires expand the fire niche across the United States” published in March 2017 reveals that 84 percent of wildfires were caused by humans through arson, downed power lines and careless campfires.
An excerpt of the study reads:
“Human-started wildfires… tripled the length of the fire season, dominated an area seven times greater than that affected by lightning fires, and were responsible for nearly half of all area burned.”
In addition, hotter weather conditions attributed to global warming and climate change have caused such a phenomenon to happen.
Matthew Hurteau, an associate professor at the University of New Mexico who studies climate impacts on forests, shared that Americans must expect more similar cases to happen due to the warming of the atmosphere.
“The length of the fire season is increasing in the Mountain West. The mechanism for that is in part because (as) the atmosphere warms up, the air expands and can hold more moisture,” he said.
The warming causes plants to experience moisture depletion which would result in drier conditions throughout the season.
