Kamala Harris was a U.S. senator from California on Oct. 28, 2019, when the Getty Fire that ripped through Los Angeles forced the evacuation of her Brentwood neighborhood.
The fast-moving blaze prompted mandatory evacuations of thousands of homes and buildings. “If you’re in the mandatory evacuation zone, and you’re still there watching this, you’re an idiot, get the hell out,” Los Angeles City Council member Paul Koretz told residents during a news conference that day.
Harris, who was running for president at the time, was in Philadelphia that day for a town hall for candidates. “There are a lot of people right now who have lost their homes, structures that have been damaged,” she told reporters at the time. “There are firefighters who are fighting fires while their own homes are burning. They should be given all the resources and all the support.” Harris promised to do everything she could at the federal level to make sure California got all the support it needed.
Harris’ West Coast roots mean she has experienced wildfires and drought in a personal way that people from other parts of the country have not, according to people who know her and have worked with her on those issues. Those experiences shape how she thinks about climate change, her allies say, and would influence how she would tackle those issues as president.
