This story originally appeared on Grist and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
On Tuesday, after a ferocious Santa Ana windstorm blew through Southern California, a severe brush fire broke out in the wealthy Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, burning 1,000 structures and forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate as of Wednesday afternoon. Another large brush fire broke out near Pasadena around the same time, killing at least two people. Together the two blazes threatened some of the most valuable homes and businesses in the United States. The damage from the Palisades Fire alone