Los Angeles losses in figures
World
Fires ripped through more than 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares or 150 square kilometers
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Eleven people dead, 10,000 buildings destroyed, 180,000 people evacuated, $150 billion in damage.
Here are the main figures showing the scale of the massive wildfires that have engulfed Los Angeles County since Tuesday.
Five blazes ongoing
Los Angeles is being ravaged by five different big blazes.
The largest, the Palisades Fire northwest of the nation's second most populous city, has consumed 86 square kilometers (33 square miles).
It has ravaged the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, home to multimillionaires and celebrities.
The second, at 56 square kilometers (22 square miles), is the Eaton Fire in Altadena, an eastern suburb of Los Angeles. The fires are eight percent and three percent contained, respectively.
Three much smaller blazes, the Kenneth Fire (four sq km), Hurst Fire (three sq km) and Lidia Fire (1.6 sq km), have been partly contained — by 50 percent, 70 percent and 98 percent, respectively.
150 square kilometers
The fires have ripped through more than 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares or 150 square kilometers.)
Compared to other fires that have hit California in recent years and spread sometimes over several thousand square kilometers, the current blazes are smaller in size.
However, they are particularly deadly and destructive because they are located in residential areas.
11 dead
To date, at least 11 people are known to have died, the Los Angeles County coroner said Thursday.
At least two died in the Palisades Fire and at least five in the Eaton Fire, according to firefighters.
If one of the blazes ends up killing six people, it would become one of the 20 deadliest in California history, according to official data.
10,000 buildings destroyed
At least 10,000 houses and other structures have already gone up in smoke, including at least 5,000 in the Palisades Fire and between 4,000 and 5,000 in the Eaton Fire, according to Los Angeles County firefighters.
The two fires are already the most destructive in the history of Los Angeles County.
By comparison, the Camp Fire ravaged nearly 19,000 buildings north of Sacramento in November 2018, and the Tubbs Fire destroyed 5,600 north of San Francisco in October 2017.
180,000 people evacuated
Around 180,000 people have been ordered to leave their neighborhoods. Authorities have been pleading with residents to heed the evacuation orders, as some residents stayed behind trying to save their properties.
The legendary neighborhood of Hollywood, threatened at one point by the Sunset Fire, was also evacuated, but the order was lifted Thursday morning after the fire in its hills was brought under control.
20 arrests
The neighborhoods hit by the fires face another danger: looting. Police have arrested at least 20 people for theft in the Los Angeles area since the first fires broke out Tuesday.
A nighttime curfew has been announced and the National Guard has been deployed to patrol affected areas.
$150 billion in damage
With the destruction of luxury residences, the fires could end up being the costliest on record. Private meteorological firm AccuWeather has estimated the damage at between $135 and $150 billion. And that could go up.
