- Firefighters are bracing for deadly new winds as the LA fires enter their second week.
- The combined fires spanned almost 39,000 acres as of early Tuesday.
- Firefighters said they’d halted the forward progress of a new, smaller fire in Ventura County.
A new wildfire has broken out in the Los Angeles area, and firefighters are also bracing for strong winds that are forecast to create critical conditions as the fires enter their second week.
Meanwhile, a new estimate from AccuWeather now pegs total economic and damage loss at up to $275 billion.
“These fast-moving, wind-driven infernos have created one of the costliest wildfire disasters in modern US history,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said. “Hurricane-force winds sent flames ripping through neighborhoods filled with multimillion-dollar homes. The devastation left behind is heartbreaking, and the economic toll is staggering.”
AccuWeather’s estimate accounts for more than just damage to buildings and infrastructure — it also includes the expected financial impact of evacuation orders, the long-term cost of rebuilding or relocation for people whose homes were destroyed, anticipated cleanup and recovery costs, emergency shelter expenses, immediate and long-term healthcare costs for those who were injured or exposed to unhealthy air quality, as well as lost wages for people whose jobs will have been affected.
Since the fires first broke out on January 7, firefighters have contained several smaller blazes in Los Angeles County, but the three largest — the Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst fires — spanned a combined 38,629 acres as of late Monday, with limited containment.
Meanwhile, a new fire near Auto Center Drive in Ventura County, named the Auto Fire, had grown to 56 acres as of early Tuesday and was 0% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
Winds pose ‘extreme fire danger’
Early Tuesday, the National Weather Service of Los Angeles said it would issue red flag warnings for two zones within hours, saying that dry, windy conditions were due to raise the danger of “extreme fire behavior.”
The areas cover two massive swaths of Ventura and LA counties.
It said that these warnings are only used in “the extreme of the extreme fire weather scenarios,” adding that “this setup is about as bad as it gets.”
Dry, fast winds over open brushland fueled the growth of the Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst fires, which continue to burn.
More than 8,500 firefighters have been marshaled to fight the fires, which have so far killed at least 24 people and destroyed more than 12,000 structures, which include homes, buildings, cars, and sheds.
A new fire
At 56 acres, the Auto Fire, which erupted Monday night in Ventura, is much smaller than the other fires.
The Palisades Fire covered about 23,713 acres and was 14% contained as of late Monday, with the Eaton Fire spanning 14,117 acres and one-third contained, and the smaller 799-acre Hurst Fire 97% contained, Cal Fire said.
Early Tuesday, officials at Ventura County Fire Department posted a video from the Auto Fire, saying that its forward progress had been stopped.
This means that the fire has been stopped in its direction of travel, even if it has not been contained.
Much of the fire is on a golf course, spread over a dry river bed. There have been no evacuation orders related to the fire.
“These zones with lower flammability will make containment efforts easier than in other areas,” Stefan Doerr, a professor of wildland fire science at the UK’s Swansea University, told Business Insider.
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