News Highlightsr
 Thick clouds of gray and brown smoke rise from wildfires in the hills near Los Angeles. The city’s tall buildings stand in the foreground, while the fire spreads across the mountains in the background. The sky looks hazy from the smoke.
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Top Photo: Pacific Palisades fire, Jan. 8, 2025 Photo credit: www.shutterstock.com

Fires in Southern California have been wreaking HAVOC since Jan. 7, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and neighborhoods.

The Palisades and Eaton fires were the first to start early last month. The fires are in Los Angeles County. They have wiped out entire neighborhoods, killing at least 28 people and destroying more than 15,000 structures. They are considered two of the most destructive fires in California’s history, and the causes of both fires are still under investigation.

As January went on, more fires started as well, including the Hughes fire in Los Angeles. The Hughes fire led to evacuation orders for 31,000 residents, and it burned more than 10,000 acres. Firefighters also had to contend with smaller fires simultaneously in Los Angeles, San Diego, Ventura, and Riverside counties.

Thousands of firefighters have been working to contain the fires. According to the state, 199 fire engines, 15 water tenders, 19 helicopters, seven

dozers, and 27 hand crews have been working to fight the Palisades fire. Firefighters arrived to help from other states, as well as Canada and Mexico, and they were working alongside firefighters from California prisons.

Over the last 20 years, an average wildfire in the western part of our country can burn up to 895 acres per day—which is half a football field burning every minute. The Palisades fire spread at up to six times that speed, burning 14,313 acres on its fastest growing day. That means the fire burned the equivalent of seven and a half football fields per minute that day!

Before the fires broke out, a three-month drought left vegetation dry and vulnerable to wildfires. As the fires spread to houses and other buildings, those burning structures caused embers to be released that easily IGNITED other buildings nearby. Seasonal high winds unfortunately only increased the fires’ ability to spread faster, with winds reaching nearly 100 miles per hour at times.

SciTech Festival Is STEM Fun for Everyone!

The Arizona SciTech Festival is kicking things off in a big way for its 14th season of captivating kids and families with all things STEM!

Whether you’re interested in aerospace, AI, gaming, healthcare and medicine, wildlife and the environment, or equations and calculations, Arizona is showcasing the cool side of STEM.

Things got off to a very hot start on Jan. 18 at STEM Fest held at the famous annual Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale. “It went really great. We have incredible community partners that show up and do amazing activities,” notes Makenna Littell, the events coordinator for the Arizona SciTech Festival. Thirty-three STEM-related booths surrounded hundreds of shiny vintage vehicles.

“At Barrett-Jackson we get thousands of people coming through that event—it’s a very high volume and a lot of fun,” Littell continues. Nova the Gecko, the bright green, polka-dotted SciTech mascot, entertained young guests. And companies like Honeywell Aerospace showed off some super cool technology. But Littell’s favorite thing to see was the Phoenix Zoo’s armadillo!

Technology is PROPELLING the auto industry in exciting ways, and Arizona offers some great career opportunities in this field of wheels.

But the official kickoffs of the 2025 Arizona SciTech Festival are right around the corner! A new event to the festival is the SciTech Kickoff at the Arizona Science Center on Saturday, Feb. 8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cox Communications is a sponsor of the event, and is underwriting a bunch of tickets so guests can get in for free. Families need to go online to bearessentialnews.com/event/az-scitech-festival-kick to nab their free registration.

The community of Verde Valley, which includes Cottonwood, AZ, has its big Festival Kickoff a week earlier (Feb. 1) from 10 a.m.–1 p.m., put on by the Science Vortex. See the AZ SciTech Festival Pullout section in the middle of this newspaper for more festival fun. There are more than 100 events, including dozens of the larger Signature Events! Visit scitechinstitute.org/events/ for the calendar, which runs through April.

Edition: 
Phoenix
Tucson
Issue: 
2025 February