Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said Tuesday that “life-threatening and destructive and widespread winds” are in the region, which could fuel the growth of new or existing wildfires in Los Angeles County and Ventura County.

Human-driven climate change set the stage for the devastating Los Angeles wildfires by reducing rainfall, parching vegetation, and extending the dangerous overlap between flammable drought conditions and powerful Santa Ana winds.

A quick scientific study finds that human-caused climate change increased the likelihood and intensity of the hot, dry and windy conditions that fanned the flames of the recent devastating Southern California wildfires.