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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — The Illinois State Climatologist said the environmental impacts of the southern California wildfires will extend way beyond when crews extinguish the final flame.
As of Monday, four of seven fires are completely contained. The Palisades and Eaton fires are still largely burning across the Los Angeles area.
At least 24 people have died, and thousands of structures have been destroyed.
Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford said the state has the perfect conditions for wildfires to burn — plenty of burnable plant material, dry weather and high winds.
The expansive fires pose a threat to people way beyond evacuation zones.
“What wildfires do is they’re burning plant material, so they’re omitting lots of potent types of very harmful gases,” Ford said. “So even folks who aren’t necessarily in the path of the fires or who aren’t at risk of having their homes or businesses destroyed are having to deal with this issue of very, very poor air quality.”
He said mudslides are another environmental concern from the fires. In the coming months, the lack of trees and roots to support the earth could cause land in the area to become destabilized.
“Of course [southern California] is a pretty mountainous area in many places, so the trees and other vegetation tend to stabilize the mountain soils,” Ford said. “When we burn off that area, the roots aren’t there to help stabilize the soils.”