By Darren Loo, Feb. 18, 2025
As I was covering the destructive wildfires firsthand as a photojournalist, I remember getting out of my car and just staring at the fire. Both the Eaton and Bridge fires were burning so immensely to the point I could hear them roaring. All I could see was orange. I could feel the heat in the wind pushing the fire down, but I just stood there and stared for a minute.
I felt helpless. I wondered whether the places I loved and enjoyed once as a kid would still exist once the flames were gone. While many might not think of Greater Los Angeles as a sanctuary for nature lovers, for me and other outdoorsy types, it’s been devastating to watch that sanctuary turn into ash, one chunk at a time.
Kyle Ha, a resident of Rancho Cucamonga who enjoys exploring the great outdoors, felt similarly.
“It was so surreal,” Ha said. “I’ve never loved a place so much, especially Mount Baldy, where the people are amazing. And I’ve really only started coming here in the last two years. So, to see that happen so soon, so fast, it was just scary.”
We both thought Mount Baldy was gone the day the fire exploded in size, but miraculously, most of Mount Baldy Village was left untouched. However, a lot of the forest was destroyed to the west of Mount Baldy, and it’s closed until December 31, 2025.
The acreage of land that has been burning has been growing since 1983 when fire agencies started recording data on wildfires, with some years being especially worse, and this comes as firefighting technologies are getting better and better.
The Line Fire caused a partial closure of the San Bernardino National Forest, the Bridge and Eaton fires caused 17% of the Angeles National Forest to be currently closed to the public, the Airport Fire caused a portion of Cleveland National Forest to be closed, and the Palisades Fire caused closures in the Santa Monica Mountains, and all these fires are just in the Greater Los Angeles Area.
What disappoints me most is that President Donald Trump has no plans to help with this. In fact, he plans to do quite the opposite. Citing it will improve the economy, Trump has passed an executive order called Unleashing American Energy, which plans to use federal lands like national forests to drill for gas and oil. Trump has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement as well, which aimed to slow down climate change and lower greenhouse gas emissions. The US Forest Service and the National Park Service have also had to let go of many employees due to the administration’s attempts to cut federal spending.
In the end, data points to climate change as a key factor in why wildfires continue to grow more rampant. 2024 was already the first year where the Earth exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius in temperature increase, and it seems like the trend will only go up, causing more extreme weather events and more destruction from wildfires.
The Angeles National Forest and the San Bernardino National Forest, located northwest and northeast of Cal Poly Pomona, are popular destinations for many at Cal Poly Pomona as well as in LA. Whether you want to go hiking, skiing, climbing or even backpacking, these national forests had something to offer.
After recent wildfires, many beloved and popular trails and destinations like Eaton Canyon Falls, Bridge to Nowhere, Mount Baldy and Inspiration Point are now unreachable due to the Eaton and Bridge fires.
One of my favorite hikes was up to Henninger Flats, where it was long enough to get away from civilization but short enough that it wouldn’t take an entire day. I was devastated when I found out the Eaton Fire swept through the entire trail.
To protect our forests from fire, we need to slow climate change, but with everything going on politically, it doesn’t look like we will be able to achieve that any time soon. Outdoor enthusiasts will just have to look for new places to explore.
Feature image courtesy of Darren Loo
