Thornburg estimates wildfires will damage 12,000 structures, costing $3 million each to fix. That’s about $36 billion. Adding in fire-related expenses, such as fighting the fires, environmental clean-up, relocations and infrastructure repairs, the economist thinks damages will be “probably a bit less than $100 billion. So, a mid-sized hurricane.”
While the insurance cost of the devastation is estimated to be around $30 billion, another tally puts the total damage at upward of $250 billion.
A new wildfire that broke out north of Los Angeles on Wednesday rapidly spread to more than 9,400 acres (38 square km), fueled by strong winds and dry brush, forcing mandatory evacuation orders for more than 31,
Firefighting aircraft and ground crews are battling fast-moving wildfire in the Castaic Lake area north of Los Angeles.