Friday, April 11, 2025

PBS Terra tells 'The REAL Story of the LA Fires | Full Documentary' for Flashback Friday

Happy Flashback Friday! For today's retrospective, I'm continuing the environmental theme from PBS Terra asks 'Save the Planet? In THIS Economy? Pffft' for an Earth Month Throwback Thursday by revisiting the top entries examining risks from climate change during the 2024-2025 blogging year. I begin with PBS Terra telling The REAL Story of the LA Fires | Full Documentary.

It is WILD how often cities used to burn down. So when fires ripped through LA at the beginning of 2025, we wondered: are urban firestorms BACK?

In 1871, nearly a third of Chicago burned down. In 1889, 25 blocks of Seattle went up in flames. Modern buildings and firefighting solved the problem. So, how is this happening again? And why is it getting worse? To find out, we went to LA while the fires were still burning. Our crew was on the ground from day one. We interviewed top fire officials and leading scientists. And, we learned exactly what went wrong in LA - and the ONE THING that could stop these UNSTOPPABLE fires.
Wow! That's the most in-depth I've seen Maiya May and Weathered get on a topic! Of course, it's also the longest. Here's to hoping my readers watch the whole thing.

I have a personal connection to these fires, which I'm recycling from PBS Terra asks 'When Will We Stop Moving to the Riskiest Regions?'
The disaster in my former home state connects back to two more entries, PBS Terra asks 'Is This Type of Fire IMPOSSIBLE to Stop?' and PBS Terra asks 'Will Climate Change Pop the Housing Bubble?' I'm recycling what I wrote about fire in the first entry.
Fires with high winds were always the most dangerous. They've become even more so since I moved to Michigan 35 years ago, as I wrote in California's Camp and Woolsey fires air pollution seen from space and felt on ground.
I found out last week that the home where I grew up was in a mandatory evacuation zone. In the 25 years I lived there, that never happened. In addition, I don't recall my family ever telling me that had happened during the three decades I've lived in Michigan until this past week.*
...
*I[n] case anyone is wondering, the house is O.K. It was more than a mile from the edge of the fire at its greatest extent.
My old house was under mandatory evacuation orders during these fires as well, but survived again. Whew!

PBS Terra retitled the video in the second post "The Insurance Industry Can't Weather Another Wildfire Season Like This UNLESS..." which I think is more accurate. As the second video points out, the fires have caused between $135 billion and $150 billion in damages so far. Yikes!
Those are just the monetary losses. May and the Weathered crew also showed the human costs. Those can be seen and felt, but are harder to measure.

Follow over the jump for the top posts featuring videos from Weathered, whether on PBS Terra or the main PBS channel, between March 21, 2024 and March 20, 2025. The most read of them was PBS examines 'THE RISKIEST Places to Live in the US as Our Climate Changes', which listed Los Angeles County, California, among the riskiest places in the U.S. because of climate change. That turned out to be true sooner than I expected!


I shared PBS examines 'THE RISKIEST Places to Live in the US as Our Climate Changes' from October 15, 2024 to the Citizen Connect/Coffee Party Facebook page, then Steve in Manhattan shared the link at Crooks and Liars. Combined, the two shares helped contribute 491 default and 507 raw page views, ranking it second by all measures during October 2024. The post ended the 2024-2025 blogging year with 550 raw page views, ranking it 11th among all entries posted between March 21, 2024 and March 20, 2025 and 15th overall.


'Weathered: Earth's Extremes' asks 'What Happens When the Land Runs Out?' from December 18, 2024 earned the bulk of its page views over two months. First, Steve in Manhattan linked to this entry at Crooks and Liars, helping it reach 348 default and 363 raw page views to rank second overall by both measures and first among entries posted during December 2024. I shared the link to the Citizen Connect/Coffee Party Facebook page during January 2025, helping it gain another 100 raw page views to tie for 17th overall for the month. The entry ended the blogging year with 491 raw page views, ranking it 19th among posts made between March 21, 2024 and March 20, 2025 and 23rd overall.

Other posts featuring Weathered videos on PBS Terra were popular on Instagram last year.


PBS Terra asks 'Is This Type of Fire IMPOSSIBLE to Stop?' had 18 views, the second most on Instagram during the 2024-2025 blogging year, but no other interactions.


PBS Terra asks 'Why Are Some Cities ATTRACTING Storms While Others REPEL Them?' earned 3 comments during December and 4 total over two months for the most comments on Instagram during the blogging year. It also earned a total of 3 likes over two months but had no record of any likes during November 2024, so I awarded it most liked during December 2024. I also got a follow and message from the share, the most of either last year. Too bad the person who followed and messaged me was banned, most likely for being a scammer. Darn.

That concludes today's look back at last year's top climate change posts. Stay tuned for this year's celebrations of Yuri's Night and Apophis Day, the first about the promise of space and the second about its perils.

Previous posts in this series Previous retrospectives about top climate posts Previous retrospectives about top Instagram shares
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