LA Wildfires to Cost Hundreds of Billions, Analysts Say

AccuWeather research estimates that cleanup, rebuilding, and relocation costs from the Southern California wildfires could reach $275 billion.

The weather data platform AccuWeather’s preliminary assessment puts the financial damage from the Southern California wildfires between $250 billion and $275 billion.

This estimate includes direct costs like rebuilding, relocation, cleanup, and emergency housing, as well as indirect costs such as medical expenses for injuries and smoke inhalation, lost wages, housing displacement, and impacts to the local economy, businesses, and tourism.

“These rapidly spreading, wind-driven fires represent one of the costliest wildfire disasters in recent US history,” AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter stated Monday. He described the potential $275 billion price tag as “staggering.”

Porter noted that the full extent of damage in some areas remains unclear, with some Los Angeles residents still at risk.

“If a significant number of additional structures burn in the coming days, this could become the worst wildfire in modern California history in terms of structures destroyed and economic losses,” he added.

The worst fires are burning between Santa Monica and Malibu, affecting some of the nation’s most expensive real estate, where median home values exceed $2 million.

Since last week, the Los Angeles area wildfires have claimed at least 25 lives and burned over 40,000 acres. More than 12,000 buildings have been destroyed, leaving entire neighborhoods in ruins.

AccuWeather’s estimate far surpasses the inflation-adjusted $197.5 billion cost of Hurricane Katrina, the most expensive natural disaster since 1980, which struck New Orleans in 2005. Katrina killed 1,833 people.