May 16, 2026 6:02 AM PT
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At the LA Times Festival of Books panel “Fire Escape: Wildfires and the Changing Geography of Southern California,” recorded on April 18, 2026, climate reporter Blanca Beert moderated a vital discussion on the state’s relationship with fire. Authors Jordan Thomas, a former hot shot firefighter, and DJ Waldy, a cultural historian, shared insights from their books When It All Burns and Elements of Los Angeles. The speakers emphasized that while climate change accelerates mega fires, today’s crises are rooted in the colonial suppression of indigenous land tending practices. Thomas explained that fire is ecologically plural and that over a century of fire erasure has left landscapes deeply vulnerable to pests, droughts, and unprecedented infernos. Waldy added that fire is a permanent fixture of the Los Angeles landscape, requiring active historical memory to resist cultural erasure.