Starting January 7th of 2025, wind-swept wildfires tore through the Los Angeles area, destroying more than 18,000 homes.
We remember feeling utterly helpless watching it on the news, knowing how scary it must be to have your life and home at risk.
Half a year later, the cleanup and recovery from the devastating fires is picking up speed.
However, the areas around Pacific Palisades and Altadena are almost unrecognizable, with huge tracts of land left utterly barren.
Dutch photographer Iwan Baan recently took powerful aerial images of the area, giving us a sense of the scale and destruction from the blazes.
While some areas are cleaned and empty of debris, others are still a tragic remnant of the destruction, with rusted, charred remains of cars and homes.
The fires burned an unprecedented 57,000 urban and suburban acres, and killed at least 30 people.
The photographs from the air give a sense of the fire’s scale, with entire grids of neighborhoods fully wiped out.
An eery stillness permeates the images, with charred trees and telephone poles remaining.
We’re impressed by the level of cleanup at most of the destroyed homes, many of them tidy empty lots at this point.
There’s even some signs of rebuilding in some of the neighborhoods.
However, the scale of the destruction leaves us wondering how these places will come back to life, and when.
Backhoes and excavators are at work clearing debris from charred homes.
Some hillsides appear less burned than others, though the devastation is vast.
Moss and Fog spoke to Baan, and he added his first-hand perspective:
“What struck me when I flew over last month was how little evidence of the fire remained in the landscape. The burn scars have largely disappeared—most of the vegetation has already grown back. The tree-lined streets are still clearly visible, with many of the trees having survived. Fire, after all, is a natural part of the ecosystem. It’s the buildings that still bear the most visible signs of the destruction.”-Iwan Baan
The storied mansions that lined the Pacific are largely gone, with concrete piers the only remaining elements.
This once storied drive is now a shell of its former self.
The scenic, curving highway along the Pacific now is a ghost town of burned homes and businesses.
This impressive yet heartbreaking photography documents the amazing power of nature, and portends a future where climate change-fueled fires are more destructive than ever.
See more of Baan’s powerful work on his website.
Images used with photographer’s permission.
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