By Janet H. Cho and George Glover
Insured losses from the wildfires that have devastated parts of Los Angeles are expected to top $20 billion, which would make them the biggest such losses in California history, surpassing the 2018 wildfires that previously held that record, according to analysts at JPMorgan.
The analysts said their estimated insured losses from the L.A. fires doubled from their calculations just a day earlier as the wildfires worsened, with little progress on containment efforts.
The analysts led by Jimmy Bhullar now say expected economic losses from the Los Angeles area wildfires have also doubled from their previous number, to about $50 billion. Among publicly traded insurers, Allstate, Travelers, and Chubb are the most exposed to California, JP Morgan said.
The 2018 Butte County Camp fires resulted in insured losses of about $10 billion. In Los Angeles, significant damage is concentrated on the affluent Pacific Palisades area, where the median home price is above $3 million.
The out-of-control blazes are still raging in Los Angeles, with firefighters unable to contain one of Southern California's worst natural disasters in history.
Roughly 30,000 acres were on fire, and at least five people were dead early Thursday, with more than 130,000 residents ordered to evacuate, and more than 415,000 without power. More than 2,000 structures have been destroyed in the Pacific Palisades fire and in the Eaton fire near Altadena, local officials said. Forecasters said no rain is expected over the next week.
The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second-largest school district, will remain closed on Friday. LA Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said the problem is not students being in schools, but getting to school as the community remains under red alert and air quality concerns. "Whether you're walking a quarter of a mile, a half a mile, you'll be exposed to this. That is the issue," he told the L.A. Times. "It's getting to the school that becomes the challenge."
Late Wednesday, a new blaze called the Sunset Fire broke out in the Runyon Canyon hiking trail near the Hollywood sign in Hollywood Hills. Hollywood Boulevard, where the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located, was among the sites evacuated.
"If you receive an evacuation order, leave immediately. If you receive a warning, get ready. Protect yourself, and each other. And don't divert firefighters from our strategy," Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said late Wednesday. "L.A. will rise and I am confident that we will rebuild. Make no mistake, Los Angeles will rebuild stronger than ever."
President Joe Biden canceled a planned trip to Rome to direct federal aid to help state, tribal, and local efforts fighting the Southern California wildfires. He said on Thursday that the Defense Department is providing firefighters, the California National Guard is sending two Modular Air Fire Fighting Systems, the Northern Command is sending four, and the Nevada National Guard is preparing two more. Ten Navy helicopters with water delivery buckets are coming from San Diego.
"We're prepared to do anything and everything as long as it takes to contain these fires and to help reconstruct and make sure we get back to normal. It's going to be a hell of a long way," Biden said at a Santa Monica fire station with California Gov. Gavin Newsom. "The federal government is here to stay as long as you need us and everything you need."
Curtis Brown of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was appointed to coordinate federal recovery operations there, and residents and businesses who sustained losses can apply for aid at www.DisasterAssistance.gov or call 800-621-FEMA (3362), the White House said.
Fires have already devastated the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in the northwest of Los Angeles, burning down the homes of acting A-listers, including When Harry Met Sally star Billy Crystal. The flames are being spread by Santa Ana winds, which are expected to last through Thursday.
A one- to two-acre fire started in Big Tujunga Canyon Road in Angeles National Forest on Thursday afternoon, and Mt. Wilson Observatory -- a key scientific research and communications site for Southern California radio and television stations -- was among the landmarks at risk from the Eaton fire, the L.A. Times reported.
The Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, which houses more than 44,000 Roman, Greek, and Etruscan antiquities dating from 6500 BC to AD 400, was threatened by flames but ultimately spared, the L.A. Times reported.
Southwest Airlines, which had canceled more than 300 flights today, including because of Winter Storm Cora and high winds in the Northeast U.S., warned travelers that flights to and from Los Angeles, Burbank, Orange County, and Ontario airports could be delayed, diverted, or canceled through Friday. It is waiving change fees for passengers who want to change their travel and offering refunds for canceled flights.
American Airlines, which has canceled more than 720 flights today because of Winter Storm Cora and the Southern California wildfires, is also waiving change fees for travel through Friday from those same four airports.
Nationwide, nearly 2,000 flights had been canceled through early afternoon Pacific time Thursday, including more than 1,700 winter storm-related cancellations of inbound and outbound flights from Dallas-Fort Worth International and Dallas Love Field airports, according to FlightAware.com.
Private forecaster AccuWeather estimated late Wednesday that the total damage and economic loss from the windstorm and wildfires was between $52 billion and $57 billion. "This is a terrible disaster. We're just starting to get a clear look at the magnitude of the destruction and loss," said the company's chief meteorologist, Jonathan Porter.
Electric utility company Southern California Edison started shutting off power to customers as a safety measure late Wednesday, sending shares in its parent Edison International 10% lower. More than 415,000 customers were without power statewide as of 3 p.m. Pacific time on Thursday, including about 317,000 SoCal Edison customers and about 87,000 Los Angeles Water and Power Department customers, according to the tracking site PowerOutage.us.
Movie studios owned by the publicly listed Walt Disney, Comcast, and Warner Bros. Discovery all shut down their lots, and offices in Burbank, and Comcast closed its Universal Studios Hollywood theme park on Wednesday. Paramount told employees to work from home if they can.
Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com and George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 09, 2025 18:16 ET (23:16 GMT)
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