The Los Angeles area has suffered more than $50 billion in estimated damages from multiple fires that began spreading Tuesday in dense areas.
The fires have killed at least 10 people, destroyed 10,000 structures, forced more than 180,000 people to evacuate, and burned 35,500 acres — an area more than twice the size of Manhattan. Taken together, the fires have quickly become the worst disaster ever in California and one of the costliest in U.S. history.
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Weather forecasting service AccuWeather estimated the economic loss at between $52 billion and $57 billion. J.P. Morgan on Thursday also estimated about $50 billion in damages. The 153,300-acre Camp Fire five years ago in Northern California was the deadliest in state history, claiming 85 lives and causing approximately $30 billion in losses.
NBC reported the Palisades Fire’s first death Thursday afternoon, shortly before officials said more than 5,300 homes, businesses and other buildings had been damaged or destroyed just in the fire that started in the Pacific Palisades.
The list of notable restaurants that have been partially or completely destroyed just by the Palisades fire includes: popular designer clothing store Elysewalker and its neighboring businesses in Pacific Palisade; Moonshadow, a well-known Malibu restaurant on the beach along Pacific Coast Highway that had been opened since the 1960s; Gladstones; Reel Inn; Rosenthal Wine Bar & Patio; and Cafe Vida and Casa Nostra in Rick Caruso’s Palisades Village shopping center. Schools and places of worship have also been destroyed.
The fire also destroyed Will Rogers’s ranch house and a motel once owned by William Randolph Hearst. Several big homes on Carbon Beach — known as Billionaires Beach in Malibu — were also destroyed.
The Eaton Fire has killed at least five people, and also destroyed more than 1,000 homes, as well as many popular restaurants and businesses in Altadena and Pasadena. A list of establishments damaged or destroyed by that fire includes: Side Pie, known as one of the best pizzerias in L.A.; Fox’s; Café de Leche; and the family-owned Pizza Of Venice, which opened almost 70 years ago. Additionally, the Eaton Fire has also destroyed dozens of mobile homes, grocery stores, service businesses, Altadena Baptist Church, Altadena Community Church, Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, and more. As of Thursday afternoon, the fire reached Mount Wilson Observatory in Angeles National Forest.
UCLA ended in-person classes for the week. The L.A. Unified School District closed all schools Thursday and Friday. All of Pasadena and Glendale public schools will be closed Friday. Some professional sports events have also been canceled, including the L.A. Kings game Wednesday and the Lakers game on Thursday.
This is a developing story. It was updated at 3:15 p.m., 3:29 p.m., 3:45 p.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific time, and again at 12:25 a.m. Pacific time.
Gregory Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com.
