L.A. is still burning. It’s an unprecedented climate disaster in the U.S. It hits home because everyone knows someone, or at least of someone, in L.A. Each day, we look at the fire maps, which show burn areas, evacuation zones, and fire weather predictions. The areas at risk have one crucial thing in common: they’re on the edges of the city, where urban areas nestle against wilderness. These beautiful areas are why places like the Pacific Palisades and Altadena are so beloved, with gorgeous views and access to hiking trails. It’s also why they’re at such high risk - fires start in the forests but can spread down to the homes below.
This is where it becomes impossible to ignore the parallels between wildfires and pandemics.
Like wildfires, pandemics often start where humans live on the edge of forests. Novel pathogens spread from bats, rats, monkeys, or other critters to the humans that are now their neighbors. A man eats a fruit that a bat previously munched on, a child touches a dead animal they find on the path, a family forgets to replace the cover on their water tank, and it becomes contaminated with bat droppings. Especially when humans encroach on land that used to be wild, the risk for spillover events increases. This is how Ebola and Marburg outbreaks started in places like Guinea, Uganda, DRC, and Angola, but also mirrors the origin stories of Nipah virus in Malaysia and Hendra in Australia.
Living on the edge has always been a draw for humans. But it’s also where we come closest to the dangers that wild places hold—sparks that can ignite a blaze or pathogens that can fuel a pandemic. If we’re going to make these edges home, we need to be smarter about how we live there—so the next spark or spillover doesn’t become a disaster.
Sources: ProPublica, NY Times