Los Angeles County residents came into Thursday morning with five wildfires burning out of control, with five people confirmed dead and more than 100,000 people forced out of their homes. Early estimates of property damage from the crisis have been placed in the tens of billions of dollars.
According to combined media reports as of 6:30 am EST, the region was dealing with a quintet of fiery disasters:
- Palisades Fire: At least 15,832 acres and 0% contained.
- Eaton Fire: At least 10,600 acres and 0% contained.
- Hurst Fire: At least 855 acres and 10% contained.
- Lidia Fire: At least 348 acres and 40% contained.
- Sunset Fire: At least 60 acres and 0% contained.
More than 350,000 energy customers are currently without power early today, including 200,000 in Los Angeles County, the nation’s most populous county. A Do-Not-Drink Water order was issued for the City of Pasadena and evacuated zones of the Eaton Fire due to the potential for “debris and elevated turbidity” impacting water quality.
JP Morgan is estimating insured losses originating from the wildfire could be around $10 billion, with most of the losses coming from residential property damage. CoreLogic estimated more than 456,000 homes, with nearly $300 billion in reconstruction value, were at moderate or greater risk within the Los Angeles and Riverside metropolitan areas. AccuWeather predicted property losses will be between $52 billion and $57 billion, adding the costs could be greater if the wildfires spread further.
“Should a large number of additional structures be burned in the coming days, it may become the worst wildfire in modern California history based on the number of structures burned and economic loss,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said.
Airbnb.org, the charitable arm of the home-rental service Airbnb, has partnered with the nonprofit 211 LA in offering free temporary housing for residents displaced by wildfires. Elon Musk announced his SpaceX will deliver free Starlink terminals to provide internet access to the areas affected by the wildfires.
President Biden cancelled a scheduled visit to Italy to monitor the ongoing crisis. The region’s entertainment industry has postponed or cancelled several events, most notably the Jan. 17 announcement of the Academy Award nominations which was delayed by two days.
Questions of preparedness to fight the wildfires has dogged the authorities. Janisse Quiñones, chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, acknowledged all water storage tanks in the Palisades area dried out by Wednesday morning at 3:00 am PST.
“We had a tremendous demand on our system in the Palisades. We pushed the system to the extreme,” said Quiñones. “Four times the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight, which lowered our water pressure.”
President-elect Donald Trump accused Gov. Gavin Newsom’s environmental policies of depleting the regional water supplies, but Newsom’s office refuted the assertion by stating, “Broadly speaking, there is no water shortage in Southern California right now, despite Trump’s claims that he would open some imaginary spigot.”
Photo: A Palisades area church on fire, courtesy of Jamie Lee Curtis’ Instagram page
