I Fought Wildfires in California. Trump Will Make the Problem Worse.

Opinion|Megafires Are a Choice

A few years ago, when I was part of a crew fighting a series of large wildfires in California’s wilderness, my bosses told me, “This isn’t normal.” Climate change was making the wildfires bigger, faster and harder to stop. It seemed like only a matter of time before the conditions grew dangerous enough to threaten some of California’s biggest cities, including Los Angeles.

Parts of Los Angeles have been burning for over a week, and with at least 12,000 structures damaged or destroyed, the Palisades and Eaton fires are among the most destructive in U.S. history. The science is clear: To prevent catastrophic fires like these, we must stop burning fossil fuels and use controlled burns to reduce the available kindling. But President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration may hinder our ability to do either.

By re-electing Mr. Trump, Americans have significantly increased the odds that such disasters will happen more frequently, and with more intensity, in the future. Mr. Trump plans to expand fossil fuel extraction, waive environmental protections, block renewable energy development and withdraw again from the Paris climate accord. So far, key designees for his cabinet have denied or misrepresented basic climate science, and those who have been named to wield the power to regulate the fossil fuel industry seem most likely to prop it up.

To add insult to injury, Mr. Trump and his allies have used the Los Angeles wildfires as an opportunity to continue sowing division. Mr. Trump made false claims about the state’s water allocation. Elon Musk, who is co-leading the Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory panel, blamed the city’s diversity initiatives for the fires.

Mr. Musk, who once positioned himself as a leader in the fight against climate change, has recently downplayed climate risks. In August, in a forum on X, the social media platform he owns, Mr. Musk speculated that humans could more than double the carbon in the atmosphere before experiencing its effects, which he suggested would be limited to headaches and nausea.

With carbon levels in the atmosphere hovering around 425 parts per million — already the highest in human history — the United States is in fact burning, overheating and flooding like never before. The months leading up to the Los Angeles wildfires were among the hottest and driest on record in California, during the hottest year on record for the planet. Heat without precipitation turns vegetation into kindling and primes it to burn violently.