Understanding How Massive the L.A. Fires Are

The scale of the infernos devastating Southern California is almost unimaginable.

In the span of just 10 days from Tuesday, Jan. 7, through Thursday, Jan. 16, at least 13 fires in and around Los Angeles County—including some that aren’t yet contained—have burned more than 40,000 acres, according to CAL FIRE, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

That’s an area greater than 30,000 football fields (1.32 acres each) or equivalent to about 270 golf courses (150 acres, on average). For reference, Manhattan, N.Y., is only about 14,600 acres, while Washington, D.C., is about 43,700 acres.

And, driven by a confluence of factors including fierce winds, the flames continue to expand. Already, more than 12,000 structures have been destroyed, according to CAL FIRE, and at least 27 people have been killed, according to the county medical examiner—figures that are both expected to rise.

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As of 12:00 a.m. Pacific Time, Friday, Jan. 17, the ongoing Palisades fire, which has wreaked havoc on the coastal community of Pacific Palisades that’s home to many celebrities as well as surrounding neighborhoods, has an incident area of over 23,000 acres; the Eaton fire, which is centered further east in L.A. County around the city of Altadena, has an incident area of over 14,000 acres; the Auto fire in Ventura County has an incident area of about 60 acres; and the contained Archer, Hurst, Kenneth, Lidia, Little Mountain, Olivas, Scout, Sunset, Tyler, and Woodley fires had a combined incident area of about 2,400 acres.

Still, this week’s California conflagrations, while on track to be the costliest in U.S. history, are far from the largest, even in the state—a record held, per CAL FIRE, by the 2020 August Complex fire that torched more than a million acres.