The head of the United Aerial Firefighters Association, which has sent about 200 pilots to Southern California to fight the massive, ongoing wildfires, told Fox News Digital that the scale of the fires is “completely demoralizing” and ranks among the worst in the world History of the nation.

“What we are seeing, particularly in the United States and around the world, is that there is no longer a fire season — it burns year-round,” Paul Petersen said Wednesday. “(This) could be one of the deadliest and most climate-damaging fires in U.S. history.”

Like airline pilots, the association’s air firefighters are limited to eight-hour missions in the air. However, says Petersen, they work 24-hour shifts. At night, pilots are equipped with night vision goggles, he said. From the air, they communicate the position of the flames to the firefighters on the ground and spray water or fire retardant from above.

Aircraft supplied by the association include helicopters such as Blackhawks and ACH 47 Chinooks, as well as aerial tankers such as the Grumman S-2T and Lockheed C-130H aircraft, which carry thousands of gallons of water. They also provide “scooper” aircraft that “scoop water from oceans, lakes and reservoirs that can be discharged as regular water or mixed with a foam inhibitor,” according to Cal Fire.

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A plane crashes as smoke rises from the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon in Los Angeles, California, USA, January 11, 2025. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)

These planes join a massive fleet trying to put out fires in Southern California. Cal Fire currently has more than 60 aircraft and helicopters in its firefighting fleet; Cal Fire also counts three King Air A200 twin-turboprop aircraft among its “air tactical aircraft.” The Air National Guard has flown C-130 Hercules aircraft “equipped with modular aerial firefighting systems” to the Los Angeles area where they conduct missions.

“Just seeing the pictures and talking to the fire chiefs that are down there – they’re making sure the devastation is worse than what you see on TV, it’s worse than you can imagine,” he said Continuation. “And from a firefighter’s perspective, it’s just totally demoralizing because firefighters are there to solve problems and their people call them when it’s their worst day. And you go in to try to solve this problem and you can’t do it.”

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As of Wednesday, more than 40,000 acres and more than 12,300 homes had burned across the state between the Palisades, Eaton, Hurst and Auto wildfires, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Palisades Fire, which has burned more than 23,000 acres in the Los Angeles area, is only 19% contained, according to the agency.

“When you destroy 13,000 homes, you know that’s going to upset a lot of firefighters because they didn’t have the resources to do it,” Petersen said.

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A mural by Sergei Statsenko, also known by the artist name Steeke, thanks firefighters in the Venice Beach area of ​​Los Angeles as wildfires burn on Monday, January 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

“There are several different components to this,” Petersen said of why these recent fires are so devastating. “When you have extreme weather and the Santa Ana winds are blowing, you know, 50, 60, 70, 80 miles per hour, and then you bring fire into it… it’s just moving so fast that people can’t stand on it are prepared.” It.

“Municipalities that aren’t prepared for this, firefighters are caught off guard by this… When you start losing one house after another, and one block after another, you’re just trying to figure out how do we stop this? And, you know, there really isn’t a playbook for how to stop a fire.

Fox News Digital previously reported that the city’s fire hydrants ran out of water as firefighters worked to stop the flames and that the department’s budget was cut just weeks before the Palisades Fire broke out.

“Without increased wildfire funding, we will continue to see something like this happen again and again,” Petersen said. “(It’s) not just about recognizing that it’s a year-round fire season, but also about the funding and the money to invest not just in firefighting but also in hazardous fuels and in hardening communities. The U.S. has to get this, you know.” “Take it seriously that you have to do everything you can to protect communities from wildfires.”

A California Department of Justice hand crew works on containment lines in front of the Palisades Fire on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 in Santa Monica, California. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

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“There is a great need to look at the local, state and federal levels to see how we can really begin to respond when fire and suppression play a large role,” he continued. “You have to fight. You have to fight the fire that you have. But there must also be fuel processing, logging, grazing and green space clearance. There also needs to be incentives from insurance companies for fire-adapted communities. All three of them. “I have to work, all at once, to do this.”

“It takes a tragedy for people to really become aware of it,” Petersen said. “And firefighters have been talking about this for 25 years, about these problems that exist.”

Two men were charged with aggravated arson in Los Angeles this week as authorities crack down on arsonists and looters amid the chaos. Petersen said it was extremely unlikely that the fires started naturally from lightning or spontaneous combustion.

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A helicopter crashes as smoke rises from the Palisades Fire in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA, January 11, 2025. (REUTERS/Daniel Dreifuss)

“I can probably tell you with 99 percent certainty that it wasn’t lightning and that there really wasn’t a natural origin for it… (With) lightning usually comes with weather or high clouds with cumulonimbus. Cumulonimbus “Does not form during strong winds (like the Santa Ana winds) … lightning is the primary cause,” he said.

“Whether it’s arson, whether it’s citizen negligence, or whether it’s a utility-caused fire (it’s probably a man-made fire…) The wind is a natural event, the fire is natural, “But the cause of this fire is not “of course,” he said.