How Americans are reacting to the Los Angeles wildfires

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Extensive fires in the greater Los Angeles area have been blazing for over a week, and the devastation is substantial. By any count, the size of the disaster is staggering - from the number of people who have lost their lives to the number of buildings destroyed and the total cost of the damage, the Los Angeles fires are shaping up to be among the worst ever recorded, and that's not accounting for the worst-case scenario, which unfortunately seems likely to unfold as the fires go on burning.

in California history.

Only the 2018 Camp Fire was more devastating than the ongoing series of recent fires. That fire in Northern California's Butte County resulted in the deaths of 85 people and the destruction of nearly 19,000 structures.

These fires are not only affecting California, but are occurring nationwide. These fires are distinct in that they are ravaging one of America's most densely populated cities, with some of the highest home values in the country. Moody's and insurance broker Aon PLC have already stated that they believe these fires will likely be the most costly in U.S. history.

Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was the costliest hurricane on record, causing $201.3 billion in damages when adjusted for today's dollars; the most expensive wildfire event was the 2018 California wildfires, including the Camp Fire, which totaled just $30.0 billion in today's money in damages.

The costs of evacuations, government expenses to clean up from a disaster, and long-term effects on industries like tourism; as a result, their numbers are often much higher than the official estimates. For example, AccuWeather estimated damages from 2024's Hurricane Helene at $225-250 billion, while NOAA's estimate is lower at $78.7 billion. Still, if the final official cost of the Los Angeles wildfires ends up at around $80 million, that would make them the seventh-costliest American natural disaster of the last 45 years.

Wildfires benefit from dry conditions and hot temperatures, and climate change has increased their frequency.

The strong winds that are spreading these wildfires have actually worsened because of climate change.

Between January 10-11, a similar finding was reported: 58 percent of registered voters polled believed climate change had contributed to the wildfires, with 85 percent of Democrats concurring but only 36 percent of Republicans.

According to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, the share of American adults who believe that people in the US are currently being harmed by climate change has been gradually increasing over the past 15 years.

Virtually the same number of Americans who personally experienced the effects of climate change increased from 23 percent in January 2010 to 49 percent as of 2024. Since climate change becomes less abstract and more immediate for more Americans with each disaster, it's possible that the government could be pushed to take more significant steps to address it.