Hollywood screenwriter Mark Victor opens up about how the California wildfires have affected his life in ‘The Claman Countdown’.
Los Angeles is in the midst of battling numerous wildfires that have ravaged homes and businesses as they blaze through the Southern California city.
A JPMorgan report Thursday said “expectations of economic losses from the fires have more than doubled since yesterday to close to $50 billion,” estimating that insured losses “could exceed $20 billion (and even more if the fires are not contained) .”
That, according to JPMorgan analysts, would make California’s current wildfires “significantly more severe than the 2018 Butte County Campfire, the wildest fire in California history.”
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Several forest fires were active as of Thursday evening Los Angeles Countyincluding three that were 0% restricted, the CalFire website showed. At least five people lost their lives.
Plumes of smoke are seen as a wildfire burns in Pacific Palisades, California on Tuesday. (David Swanson/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that more than 7,500 firefighters and emergency personnel fighting the flames.
Four of the five costliest wildfires the US has seen were in California, according to data from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).
Campfire
A classic car destroyed in a camp fire is seen in Paradise, California on November 27, 2018. (Anda Chu/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)
The Camp Fire started on November 8, 2018 and has been raging on the 17th days in Northern California. Its blaze caused inflation-adjusted losses of $12.4 billion, the NFPA reported.
The fire has consumed over 153,300 acres, destroying 18,800 homes, buildings and commercial properties, according to CalFire. He destroyed almost the entire city of Paradise.
About 52,000 people were evacuated during the camp fire.
While it raged, 85 people lost their lives. CalFire believes it is the deadliest wildfire the Golden State has experienced.
Tubbs Fire
CalFire firefighters monitor a burning operation as they battle the Tubbs Fire near Calistoga, California, on October 12, 2017. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The inflation-adjusted cost of the Tubbs fire, which hit Napa and Sonoma counties in California in 2017, it was nearly $11.05 billion, according to the NFPA.
The fire occurred in the midst of the “Fire Siege of October 2017.” At that time, there were more than 170 fires in Northern California.
The Tubbs fire “was caused by a private electrical system near an apartment building,” CalFire said in 2019. It killed 22 people.
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The Lahaina Fire
Burnt cars and houses are seen in a neighborhood destroyed by a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii on August 18, 2023. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Lahaina fire on Hawaiian island Maui occurred in August 2023. The death toll was 101.
“The cause of the fire was the reactivation of the broken lines, which caused the ejection of molten metal materials (sparks) that fell to the base of pole 25, igniting the unmaintained vegetation below. Additionally, the fouling and rupture of the live overhead transmission line between poles 25 and 24 resulted in the fall of that water onto the ground, which ignited the vegetation below,” according to a report released by the county’s Department of Fire and Public Safety. Maui. “The continuation of the fire via re-ignition was caused by a hidden piece of smoldering material that at an undetermined time reached a sensitive fuel package in a ravine to the east and south of the existing fire area via an undetermined route.”
Preliminary inflation-adjusted fire losses totaled $6.18 billion, the NFPA said.
Woolsey Fire
Los Angeles County firefighters attack a fire approaching Salvation Army camps at Malibu Creek State Park during the Woolsey Fire near Malibu, California, on November 10, 2018. (David McNew/Getty Images)
According to the NFPA, the Woolsey Fire cost $5.2 billion on an inflation-adjusted basis. CalFire reported that the 2018 inferno burned more than 96,900 acres in California.
The National Park Service said 88% of the land it manages within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area has been burned.
Tunnel/Oakland Hills Fire
Inflation-adjusted losses of $3.893 billion resulted from a 2,900-acre tunnel fire in California’s Oakland Hills area in 1991, according to the NFPA.
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About 1,500 Northern California firefighters were involved in fighting the blaze at its worst, according to the East Bay Regional Park District.
How many wildfires does the US face each year?
The US faces tens of thousands of wildfires every year. Nearly 56,600 occurred in 2023, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The year before that, there were almost 69,000.
Eric Revell contributed to this report.
