The Hollywood fires will cause harm long after they burn out

What could be more terrifying than

a wall of flames sweeping through the suburbs of Los Angeles?

The stealthy cloud of pollution seeping into people’s lungs many kilometres from the conflagration which will be causing harm long after the last ember burns out.

Burning palm trees and multimillion-dollar mansions turned into ash make an unforgettable symbol of the damage climate change is wreaking. An even greater toll, however, will be counted in lives cut short not by the violence of a wildfire, but by the slow poisoning unleashed by its flames.