California’s wildfires could be the costliest disaster in US history, the state’s governor said, as forecasts of high winds raised fears that the catastrophic blazes will spread further.
In remarks to NBC Meet the journalists on Sunday, Gavin Newsom said the fires — which have burned more than 40,000 acres, according to CalFire, the state’s division of forestry and fire protection — will be the worst the country has seen “in terms of the costs associated with them, (and) in terms of scale and scope”.
He added that there were likely to be “many more” confirmed deaths. According to Los Angeles authorities, the death toll rose to 24 on Sunday night.
The possibility of pick-up on Sunday as Santa Ana winds fueled the fire left tens of thousands of residents under evacuation orders. The fires threatened homes in the upscale Mandeville Canyon and Brentwood neighborhoods, although officials said they were making progress in stopping their progress there.
The National Weather Service has forecast wind gusts between 50 and 70 miles per hour, while dry conditions remain.
“We know that elevated critical fire conditions will continue into Wednesday,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Maroney said Sunday.
According to the nonprofit news service Cal Matters, LA is experiencing its second driest start to the rainy season in more than a century. At the halfway point of the season, LA has only recorded about 0.2 inches of rain since October — well below the 4.5 inches that is typical through January.
Newsom, a Democrat, responded to a barrage of attacks from Donald Trump. The incoming Republican president accused the governor of depleting water reserves to protect an endangered fish species and refusing to sign a “water restoration declaration” that would “allow millions of gallons of water … to flow into many parts of California every day.” Newsom’s office said that such a statement does not exist.
Trump, who has a long-standing feud with Newsom and refers to him as “Newsom,” also called on the Californian to resign, accusing him of “gross incompetence.”
“The reservoirs are completely full, the state reservoirs here in Southern California,” Newsom said.
“I don’t think this wrong and misinformation brings benefits or helps any of us,” he added. “Responding to Donald Trump’s insults, we would spend another month. I am very familiar with them. Every elected official he disagrees with knew them well.”
Newsom also said he has invited the president-elect to visit the affected areas, but has yet to hear back from Trump’s transition team.
Firefighters have contained three fires since Tuesday, including the Sunset Fire that threatened the Hollywood Hills. The Hurst Fire in the San Fernando Valley, north of Los Angeles, was 80 percent contained as of Sunday afternoon.
But firefighters are still struggling to contain the two largest fires. Newsom said on social media platform X that the Palisades and Eaton fires are 11 percent contained and 27 percent contained. Thousands of firefighters have been deployed to battle the Palisades fire with heavy trucks and aerial support, the mayor’s office said Sunday. The city also opened shelters for affected families.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) has staff in LA to help Angelenos apply for disaster assistance, while the Federal Small Business Administration offers disaster loans for homes and businesses.
Newsom issued an executive order that he said would prevent those who lost their homes from getting “caught up in red tape” so they could rebuild quickly.
The head of FEMA on Sunday raised the possibility that US troops will be sent to Los Angeles to help control the fires.
“There are active-duty military personnel who have orders to prepare to deploy, who are ready to go and continue to support firefighting efforts,” Deanne Criswell told ABC’s This week program. Speaking to CNN, she warned that strong winds expected in the coming days could further spread the fire.
No official estimate of the cost of the damage has yet been released, but AccuWeather analysts last week calculated the economic loss to be between $135 billion and $150 billion — less than the $250 billion in costs associated with last year’s hurricane Helena. At least 12,300 structures were destroyed, according to CalFire.
President Joe Biden on Thursday pledged that the US government would pay “100 percent of all costs” caused by the disaster and that he would ask Congress for more financial assistance.
Trump, who on the campaign trail last year threatened to withhold disaster funding from California, has so far been tight-lipped about whether he would provide similar aid. On Sunday, he renewed his attacks on government officials.
“Incompetent citizens have no idea how to put out (fires),” he wrote. “Death is everywhere. This is one of the worst disasters in the history of our country. They just can’t put out fires. What’s wrong with them?”
