What you should know about LA fire evacuations, maps, what caused them, who is affected and more

What you should know about LA fire evacuations, maps, what caused them, who is affected and more

How many people are affected?

Nearly 180,000 people had to be evacuated because of the fires in Palisades, Eaton, Hurst and Lidia in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Thursday.

There is an evacuation warning for another 200,000 residents.

More than 100,000 people have been evacuated, Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo told reporters Wednesday while discussing the Eaton fire, and 100,000 people have been told they may need to evacuate because they live in a danger zone.

About 37,000 people exposed to the Palisades fire were ordered to evacuate their homes in the cities of Calabasas, Malibu and Los Angeles, police and fire officials said.

Crowley said more than 3,000 people in the Sylmar area also needed emergency evacuation.

Were there any deaths or injuries?

According to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, at least 10 people had died in the fires as of Thursday evening.

The office said it could take weeks to confirm the identities of those killed.

Officials said earlier Thursday that four people died in the Eaton fire and two in the Palisades fire. It was not immediately clear whether they were included in the 10 from the coroner’s office.

Officials are just beginning to enter areas for welfare checks and missing person reports, and they warned that the death toll could rise.

According to Marrone, there were significant injuries in the Eaton fire.

Marrone said a significant number of people who did not follow evacuation orders were injured in the Palisades fire.

How much damage did the fires cause?

Thousands of structures, including homes, commercial buildings and vehicles, were damaged or destroyed.

An aerial survey found an estimated 5,316 structures were destroyed by the Palisades fire, Cal Fire said Thursday, and Marrone said about 4,000 to 5,000 structures could be damaged or destroyed by the Eaton fire.

Video from NBC Los Angeles showed several businesses in a busy commercial area in Altadena ablaze, and the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center burned overnight, the station reported.

A video from Malibu showed beachfront homes reduced to rubble.

“There’s a lot of damage out there,” Luna told reporters.

The Palisades fire was one of the most destructive in Los Angeles history, Crowley said.

Insured losses from this week’s fires could exceed $20 billion and the total economic loss could reach $50 billion, according to estimates released Thursday by JPMorgan.

Those losses would far exceed the $12.5 billion insured loss from the 2018 Camp Fire, which was the costliest fire in the country’s history to date, according to Aon.

What led to the fires?

The combination of drought-like conditions — Southern California has had less than 10% of average precipitation since Oct. 1 — and strong offshore winds that hit the region on Tuesday resulted in fire weather that, in the words of the National Weather Service, was “about as bad.” it just works.

The agency issued an alert for 19 million people indicating an increased risk of fire. Wind gusts exceeding 70 miles per hour were recorded in several locations across the region.

Swain pointed to the weather whiplash that California has experienced in recent years — the oscillation between drought and heavy rains — and said such fluctuations are a key element in the fire weather gripping the region.

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