In the months leading to the 2025 California wildfires, Strong winds and severe drought conditions put the Southern California region at a dangerously high risk for a disastrous wildfire. On January 7th, the Eaton and Palisades fires began.
One year later, the scars of the Eaton fire still serve as a cautionary tale of the effects of climate change and the ever-increasing number of devastating wildfires.
Remnants of the destruction left from the Eaton fire still stand among the restored buildings in Altadena. A destroyed bike shop remains untouched, sectioned off by caution tape and road closure signs. Broken glass and bricks lie on the road, it is one of the few buildings still casting the shadow of the Eaton fire’s legacy.
The owner of the bike shop was the family of Brynn Salinas, a second-year forestry student at Citrus, who lost their home and shop to the Eaton Fire. After the fires, they moved to Claremont.
”We were already in a drought, which only made the fires worse. And if things only get hotter, we’re just going to have less rainfall. It’s only going to get worse,” said Salinas. Their family hopes to rebuild, however, the cost of moving and rebuilding is becoming a further and further goal with rising costs and the threat of another wildfire.
Data from the National Weather Service’s website shows a lack of rainfall starting from June to December of the year prior to the fires. Rainfall and drought changes in the region were emphasized by the effects of warming weather, leading California to experience the effects of climate change firsthand.
The 2025 wildfires are some of the more recent examples of uncontrollable wildfires. CAL FIRE lists the top eight largest wildfires to have occurred within the last decade, with 16 of them occurring after 2000. However, the current administration argues that the climate issue is not as important as potential economic gains.
On February 12th of this year, the Trump administration revoked the EPA’s 2009 scientific finding connecting greenhouse gases to climate change. Ever-increasing pressure by the Trump Administration to repeal many of the climate change policies has been the focus ever since Executive Order 14162, titled “Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements“.
This executive order seeks to withdraw the United States from environmental agreements, as the administration argues that they “do not reflect the country’s values or our contributions to the pursuit of economic and environmental objectives.”
The 2009 scientific finding acted as the legal backing of many motor vehicle limitations and policies enacted under the Clean Air Act.
The Trump administration’s decision follows a wave of backlash, especially from those who have lived through the events leading up to the 2025 wildfires. Former and current Citrus life science professors voice their opinions on the Trump administration’s actions.
Retired Biology Professor David Ryba stated that the changes and regulations wouldn’t make the impact the administration was hoping for.
“The regulations aren’t injuring the economy enough to matter,” said Ryba. “What he wants to do might help the economy of the oil companies who wanna sell more oil and have less responsibility to do fancy processing to get rid of sulfur or whatever else, but it won’t help you sooner.”
Other professors who did not want to be listed because of the potential backlash still wanted to have their concerns heard.
“Revoking the EPA’s scientific findings of greenhouse gases is not the right direction we should be going as a nation,” is what one life science professor has to say. “In the United States of America, we like to lead the world by example, so why not lead the world in fixing the climate change issue?”
The removal of the scientific findings is not the end, though. This decision leaves the regulations to the states, which props up another line of defense for the environment. The state of California has independent regulations apart from the federal level.
”California is kind of a leader, so when California says that they’re gonna require some emission level, it means that the automotive industry says ‘it’s cheaper for us to make all of our cars match California emissions even if other states like Louisiana or wherever don’t care’” said Ryba.
“You can’t just say ‘we’re gonna do something one year. You started one year, but it takes 10 years or 15 years to get to the right timeframe to recycle or replace all of the current cars.”
California’s defense provides hope for the future, but the state cannot hold all of the weight for the nation’s environmental protections.
”I moved to Southern California in the 80s, and at first, you couldn’t see the San Gabriel mountains,” said Ryba. “I was in Claremont looking north at Mount Baldy, and for a month at a time, you couldn’t see that there were mountains there. I went away for a while, and I came back 10 or 15 years later, and it became rare that you did not see the mountains, and that was a direct result of the requirements of mileage standards. Catalytic converters in the 70s had now caught up.”
In the past five months, California has seen an increase in average rainfall per month. Now residents have to prepare for a new threat: Floods.
“The locals don’t have the kind of money to just drop everything and leave when something happens,” said Salinas. “As I like a stable economy, you can’t have these fire conditions in the long run. I care more about the people who live here than the higher-ups who make the most money.”
