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The total damage from the devastating wildfires that engulfed Southern California could amount to economic losses between 52 billion and 57 billion dollars, according to a new analysis.
The estimate, issued by AccuWeather’s Global Weather Center, takes into account the direct and indirect impacts of the storm and includes insured and uninsured losses. Some of these costs relate to property, wages, crops, infrastructure, supply chains and travel, according to the report.
Also included are evacuations, cleaning, emergency management and medical expenses.
“This is already one of the worst wildfires in California history,” Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather, said in a statement. “Should a large number of additional structures burn in the coming days, it could become the worst wildfire in modern California history based on the number of structures burned and the economic loss.”
To put the preliminary estimate into context, AccuWeather found that total damage and economic losses from the 2023 Maui wildfires were $13 billion to $16 billion.
Losses from all wildfires in the western United States in 2020 totaled $130 billion to $150 billion, while losses from the 2024 hurricane season reached nearly half a trillion dollars, according to the analysis.
The most serious fires are currently burning in an area stretching from Santa Monica to Malibu, affecting some of the most expensive real estate across the country, with average values of more than $2 million, forecasters said .
“This estimate is preliminary, as infernos continue to spread and impacts continue to occur, and some areas have not reported damage, injuries and other impacts,” the analysis said.
Many Pacific Palisades residents have said they don’t have property insurance because companies are no longer willing to offer such protection in this expensive and high-risk area, according to the report.
If the fires continue to spread quickly and into densely populated areas, thousands of more expensive structures could burn, forecasters said, warning that the loss estimate could be “revised substantially upward.”
