The devastating California wildfires still burning two days later will have costly damages for the city, state and its residents.
One preliminary estimate from AccuWeather, a weather forecasting site, calculated that the total damage and economic loss from the fires across L.A. County could cost between $135 billion and $150 billion.
“These fast-moving, wind-driven infernos have created one of the costliest wildfire disasters in modern U.S. history,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said. “Hurricane-force winds sent flames ripping through neighborhoods filled with multi-million-dollar homes. The devastation left behind is heartbreaking and the economic toll is staggering. To put this into perspective, the total damage and economic loss from this wildfire disaster could reach nearly 4 percent of the annual GDP of the state of California.”
AccuWeather’s initial estimate pegged the loss at $50 billion, but that estimate was dramatically increased later on Thursday.
Several fires have sparked up in the city since Tuesday, fueled by strong Santa Ana winds, causing the most destruction to homes in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, where the median home value is over $2 million. Residents are aware of the risk of fires when living in the area, but this one, mapped at 17,234 acres as of Thursday afternoon, is on its way to becoming the largest and must destructive in California history.
AccuWeather incorporated several methods to evaluate the impacts of the windstorm and wildfires and assess both insured and uninsured losses. The weather forecasting company’s estimate accounts for “damage to property, job and wage losses, crops, infrastructure damage, interruption of the supply chain, auxiliary business losses and flight delays or cancellations” and takes into account cost of evacuations, relocations, emergency management, and government expenses for cleanup operations.
State Farm California dropped about 1,600 insurance policies in Pacific Palisades in July 2024, according to a statement to CBS from Department of Insurance spokesman Michael Soller, and more policies have been dropped in surrounding L.A. communities. Thousands of structures within those zip codes have since been burned down, including schools, businesses and residences.
While evacuation orders are still in place, it may be days before the full extent of the damage can be calculated. The number of expensive homes and businesses affected alone suggests that the overall economic damage will certainly be greater than the $30 billion loss caused by the Camp fire that swept across California in 2018. This fire is considered the state’s most expensive wildfire to date.
The 2023 Maui wildfires, by comparison, caused $5.6 billion in damages, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
