A quick scientific study finds that human-caused climate change increased the likelihood and intensity of the hot, dry and windy conditions that fanned the flames of the recent devastating Southern California wildfires.

Climate change helped to set the stage for the devastating Los Angeles fires this month, a new study by 32 researchers shows. The Palisades and Eaton wildfires broke out in early January and soon killed at least 28 people,

Thousands of firefighters have been battling wildfires across 45 square miles of densely populated Los Angeles County. The two largest fires, the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades and the Eaton Fire near Pasadena, remain active. One of the latest, the Hughes Fire in the Castaic area, has prompted evacuation orders for tens of thousands of people.

Palisades Fire initially started 10:30 a.m. Jan. 7 in Los Angeles County. It has burned 23,448 acres after being active for 20 days. A crew of 1,043 firefighters has been working on site and they managed to contain 94% of the fire by Monday afternoon.

The death toll from the wildfires plaguing the Los Angeles area in the United States has risen to 29. The coroner’s office announced on Monday evening that one person died in hospital over the weekend as a result of the “Palisades’’ fire on the western edge of Los Angeles.