Characterizing the January 2025 wildfires in Southern California using multiplatform satellite observations and landscape metrics

In January 2025, major fires affected the Los Angeles (California, USA) metropolitan area due to gusty winds and dry conditions. Palisades and Eaton fires, starting on January 7, destroyed about 14,000 structures, more than two dozen of people died and several hectares of vegetation burned. On January 22, the Hughes fire occurred in northern Los Angeles County. In this paper, we investigate those fire events from space by integrating Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) observations from different sensors and landscape metrics. While Palisades and Hughes fires were detected a few minutes after the ignition using GOES-R Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) data, Eaton fire was promptly identified thanks to the more favourable night-time conditions. Estimates of burned areas indicate that Palisades fire, which was most intense in terms of fire radiative power, burned the largest area around 89 km², with burning percentages of Southern California dry-mesic chaparral around 70%. Eaton fire extended over 48.3 km², while Hughes fire showed the lowest spatial extent of 40.3 km² and a rapid space-time evolution. These outcomes show the important role of multiplatform satellite observations in the monitoring and characterization of strong fire events, which may significantly affect environment and local populations. Lastly, this study shows that landscape metrics, generally adopted in other scientific fields, can help reveal previously unseen ecological characteristics of burned areas in terms of composition and spatial configuration, allowing for a better understanding of fire dynamics, the factors underlying its duration and intensity, and the mix of land uses that facilitate its spread.