Firefighters in Los Angeles continue to battle devastating wildfires that have killed at least 27 people and left thousands of homes destroyed. Today, we’re revisiting an interview we ran in late 2023 with Emily Lindsey, a paleoecologist who works at the La Brea tar pits archaeological site in Los Angeles, about a wildfire warning from southern California’s ice age history.

The interview originally aired in November 2023. This episode was written and produced by Katie Flood. Sound design was by Eloise Stevens and Michelle Macklem. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.

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Further reading:

• Human use of fire has produced an era of uncontrolled burning: Welcome to the Pyrocene
• A changing climate, growing human populations and widespread fires contributed to the last major extinction event − can we prevent another?
• How Santa Ana winds fueled the deadly fires in Southern California