'A new reality': Price tag for LA fires pegged at $65 billion, report says
A new report says each of the two major wildfires that devastated parts of Los Angeles County in January cost more than twice as much, adding up to a whopping $65 billion in losses.
The Palisades ($37 billion) and Eaton ($28 billion) fires also became the most expensive wildfire events ever for the reinsurance industry, causing $40 billion total in covered damage, according to the report by Gallagher Re, a global firm that provides insurance to insurers.
'(We're) talking about two of the most expensive fires ever recorded globally,'' said Steve Bowen, chief science officer for Gallagher Re, underscoring the rarity of such twin calamities occurring well into California's traditional rainy period.
'We're facing a new reality regarding the seasonality of wildfires,'' he said.
The concurrent blazes killed 30 people and destroyed more than 16,200 buildings – compared to 85 and 18,800 for the Camp inferno, which wiped out the Northern California town of Paradise.
Burning expensive real estate
The increased price tag reflects the L.A. blazes' location in one of the nation's most expensive housing markets, and it also highlights the unique spot the U.S. held in the ranking of costly natural disasters in the first six months of 2025.
In a relatively tame first half of the year for weather-related catastrophes across the planet, the U.S. racked up $110 billion in losses, representing 73% of the world's total and 92% of the covered insurance damages, Gallagher Re said. Every other region was below average.
The U.S. had 15 billion-dollar and eight multibillion-dollar weather-related events in the first half of 2025, while the rest of the world had six and three, respectively.
In addition to the destructive wildfires, chief among them the ones in Southern California, Americans had to contend with a high number of severe convective storms – essentially thunderstorms – that produced tornadoes, high winds and hail, leading to about $42 billion in economic losses.
At least 118 tornado touchdowns were unleashed during a March 13-16 outbreak across 15 states, mostly in the Midwest and parts of the South and East, killing at least 43 people. Federal officials said the 300 verified tornadoes in March smashed the previous record.
Weather whiplash a growing concern
Bowen noted the emergence of 'weather whiplash,'' where a region experiences two ends of the climate spectrum – say, from drenching rain that fosters vegetation growth to extended dry spells that turn brush into tinder – in a relatively short time.
California has been prone to that phenomenon in recent years, in addition to downpours that fall on burn scars from fires, resulting in flooding and mudslides.
'Really being cognizant of these shifts in weather is becoming much more important as we see the influence of climate change in the day-to-day weather patterns,'' Bowen said.
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