Firefighter village rises on Malibu beach climate crisis news

A huge village has settled on the golden sands of the beach in Malibu, in which thousands of firefighters live.

When firefighters from across North America aren’t battling wildfires in Los Angeles, they eat, sleep and recuperate on Zuma Beach.

About 5,000 first responders huddle between trailers and tents. Before dawn the camp comes to life as thousands of people line up for breakfast.

The standards of dozens of firefighting battalions mark the presence of personnel from California and the Western United States, as well as a contingent of newly arrived Mexicans.

For many people, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, it’s a chance to get a calorie boost before their shift.

The meals are prepared by a team of inmates from California prisons, brought in to help in one of the largest disaster responses the state has ever seen.

Corrections officer Terry Cook, who oversees inmates at the base, said he sometimes sees a familiar face among the regular firefighters, someone who has gotten himself back on the straight and narrow after serving his sentence. .

“I’ve met prisoners who came to my camp two years ago, and I’ve seen them in line here, and I’ve shaken their hands, and said ‘Congratulations,'” he said.

Two massive fires fueled by fierce winds have scorched 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) of land in Los Angeles last Tuesday.

At least 24 people have died in the fire, which has destroyed more than 12,000 structures and forced 92,000 people from their homes, including in affluent Pacific Palisades, just a few miles from the firefighters’ camp. also includes.

After breakfast, teams prepare their vehicles and equip themselves with snacks, sandwiches, drinks and sweets.

With the threat of dangerous winds across much of the region, some units have been charged with attacking new outbreaks, while others have been tasked with suppressing the original fire.

With orders in hand, each team sets out through the streets of Pacific Palisades or into the wilds of Topanga Canyon.

For some, it is their first time in the field as part of a firefighting effort; For others, it’s just another day in an already long week.

As he prepares to climb into Mandeville Canyon, Jake Dean says in his 26 years as a firefighter he has never seen such a destructive fire.

He said, “After the first day, many of the people I had known for a long time at Base Camp barely recognized me.” “My phone wouldn’t recognize me to turn on, I was too tired and dirty.”

But with massive air campaigns under fire on all fronts, Dean may feel that the work is paying off.

“Today won’t be that bad,” he said. “We’ll pace ourselves and drink lots of water and be ready for the long haul here and the next fire.”