Paper short abstract

This paper examines how firefighters make catastrophic wildfires actionable in real time. Drawing on operational briefings from the 2025 Palisades Fire, it shows how responders sustain coordination and decision-making as fires increasingly exceed established paradigms of control.

Paper long abstract

Wildfires are increasingly framed as symptoms of a broader climate crisis whose consequences appear catastrophic yet uncertain. While such risks are often discussed in abstract and global terms, responses must take place in concrete situations where action cannot be postponed. This paper examines how catastrophic wildfires become actionable within the practical work of wildfire response.

I focus on the Palisades Fire, which broke out on January 7, 2025, in the Santa Monica Mountains of Los Angeles County and became the most destructive wildfire in the history of the city. The fire spread rapidly through Pacific Palisades, Topanga, and Malibu, destroying more than 6,800 buildings before being contained on January 31. The scale and intensity of the fire challenged established paradigms of wildfire suppression that are historically oriented toward control and containment.

Empirically, the paper analyzes operational briefings and status reports produced during the firefighting operations between January 7 and January 31. Drawing on an ethnomethodological perspective and STS-inspired practice studies, I reconstruct how responders describe, interpret, and coordinate around the unfolding fire while being directly immersed in its dynamics. Particular attention is paid to how firefighters render the evolving situation intelligible “for all practical purposes” (Garfinkel) while confronting events that increasingly exceed established expectations of controllability.

By examining how catastrophic fires are rendered actionable in real-time coordination practices, the paper contributes to STS discussions about existential risk. It shows how abstract climate-related threats are translated into situated practices of sense-making, coordination, and decision-making during unfolding emergencies.