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According to the latest data from the California Fire Department, the wildfires have claimed the lives of at least 11 individuals and have scorched over 37,000 acres. The fires, which first ignited on Tuesday, have obliterated more than 12,000 structures and have forced tens of thousands of Californians to evacuate.
根據加州消防局的最新數據，野火已經奪去了至少11人的生命，燒毀了超過3.7萬英畝的土地。周二首次燃起的大火已經摧毀了1.2萬多座建筑，迫使數萬名加州人撤離。
"The very dry vegetation combined with the prolonged extreme fire weather conditions will support rapid spread and erratic behavior of any new or existing fires," the weather service said on Saturday.
“非常干燥的植被加上長期的極端火災天氣條件，將助長任何新的或現有的火災迅速蔓延和不穩定的行為，”氣象局周六表示。
The strength of the wind is what helps to spread fires rapidly. Speeds of 60 to 80mph (95-130km/h) are common, but gusts of up to 100mph (160km/h) can occur during the worst Santa Ana events.
風的強度有助于火勢迅速蔓延。風速為60 - 80英里/小時（95-130公里/小時）是常見的，但今年的“圣安娜風”，高達100英里/小時（160公里/小時）的陣風也會發生。
While rain has been plentiful in the northern part of the state, Southern California has been bone dry, with only 0.03 of an inch of rain falling at LAX in the last three months of 2024.
雖然加州北部雨水充足，但南加州卻非常干燥，2024年最后三個月洛杉磯國際機場的降雨量只有0.03英寸。
"While fires are common and natural in this region, California has seen some of the most significant increases in the length and extremity of the fire weather season globally in recent decades, driven largely climate change," said Professor Stefan Doerr, Director of the Centre for Wildfire Research, at Swansea University.
斯旺西大學山火研究中心主任斯特凡·德爾說，“雖然火災在這個地區很常見，也很自然，但近幾十年來，加州在全球范圍內的火災天氣季節的長度和極端程度都有了最顯著的增加，這主要是由氣候變化造成的。”
As wildfires raged across Los Angeles, crews battling the Palisades blaze faced an additional burden: Scores of fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades had little to no water flowing out.
隨著野火在洛杉磯肆虐，帕利塞茲的滅火人員面臨著額外的負擔：太平洋帕利塞茲的數十個消防栓幾乎沒有水流出。
By 3 am Wednesday, all water storage tanks in the Palisades area "went dry," diminishing the flow of water from hydrants in higher elevations, said Janisse Qui?ones, chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the city's utility.
到周三凌晨3點，帕利塞茲地區的所有儲水箱都“干涸”了，高海拔地區消防栓的水流減少了，洛杉磯市水電部門（Los Angeles Department of water and Power）的首席執行官兼總工程師Janisse Qui?ones說。
"We had a tremendous demand on our system in the Palisades. We pushed the system to the extreme," Qui?ones said Wednesday morning. "Four times the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight, which lowered our water pressure."
“我們在帕利塞德的系統有很大的需求，我們把系統推到了極限。”Qui?ones周三上午說。帕西菲克帕利塞茲的用水需求連續15小時達到正常水平的4倍，導致水壓下降。
Traci Park, the Los Angeles City Council member whose district includes Pacific Palisades, said the city’s water systems were among several pieces of critically underfunded infrastructure.
洛杉磯縣議員特蕾茜·帕克認為，消防人員不應該面對消防栓無水的問題，洛杉磯在基礎設施方面的投資長期不足。
US President Joe Biden said the problem lay not with a shortage of water but with power cuts that took water pumps offline. During wildfires, utility companies can cut electricity amid fears that faulty power lines could spark more fires.
美國總統拜登表示，問題不在于缺水，而在于斷電導致水泵停運。在野火期間，公用事業公司可以切斷電力，因為擔心電線故障可能引發更多火災。
"While it will take some time to determine precisely the role of climate change in driving the current wildfires," said Dr Matthew Jones, a leading expert at the University of East Anglia's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, "we can say with high confidence that climate change is causing increased risk of hot, dry, fire-prone extremes in the western US, and that fire-prone weather conditions are becoming much more common outside of the usual summer fire season under climate change. Hence it should be no surprise that historically unprecedented wildfires are now occurring in winter."
英國廷德爾氣候變化研究中心高級研究助理馬修·瓊斯接受媒體采訪時說，雖然需要一段時間才能確定氣候變化在導致當前野火方面所起的作用，但“非常肯定”氣候變化導致美國西部出現炎熱、干燥、易發生火災的極端天氣的風險增加，而且在氣候變化影響下，在通常的夏季火災季節之外，易發生火災的天氣條件正變得越來越常見。
Dr Maria Lucia Ferreira Barbosa, wildfire scientist, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), said: "The fires in Los Angeles are a stark reminder of how extreme weather increases fire risk. It is likely that heavy rains from El Nino last year fuelled vegetation growth, which has since dried out during the recent prolonged dry spell and, along with strong winds, creating perfect conditions for wildfires to spread."
英國生態水文中心科學家瑪麗亞·露西婭·費雷拉·巴爾博薩認為，洛杉磯的火災顯示了極端天氣將如何增加火災風險。2024年厄爾尼諾現象帶來的大雨很可能促進了植被的生長，而植被此后在長期干旱中枯萎，再加上強風，為野火蔓延創造了條件。
編輯：黎霈融
實習生: 孟昱
來源：新華社 美聯社 紐約時報 NBC BBC 洛杉磯時報 East Anglia Bylines Science Mdeia Centre
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