L.A. wildfires News

Trump Asserts Federal Government Power Over California Water

President Donald Trump is asserting more federal government control over water management decisions in California and ordering U.S. officials to override local authorities, casting the steps as necessary to boost the state’s firefighting capabilities. The actions — enshrined in an …

Southern California Edison: Details on Transmission Lines in Eaton Amid Wildfire Probe

Southern California Edison, a unit of utility Edison International, said on Monday preliminary analysis of data showed a “momentary and expected increase in current” on its energized lines in the Eaton Canyon corridor on Jan. 7 evening. Fire officials have …

Southern California Edison Asked by Investigators to Preserve Gear at LA’s Eaton Blaze

Fire investigators have asked Southern California Edison Co. to preserve its equipment near the site where the deadly Eaton fire began earlier this month. The Los Angeles County Fire Department, the lead agency investigating the blaze, asked the utility to …

LA Wildfires by the Numbers: Insured Losses, Total Losses, Ratings, Rates

The impact of the historic Los Angeles-area wildfires is being broadly examined and continually refined, with updates almost daily on insured losses, total economic losses and damages, credit ratings—and lately worrying outlooks for the effect of the fires on insurance …

Fitch Revises Mercury’s Outlook to Negative

Fitch Ratings said in an outlook revision that it expects Mercury General Corp.’s credit profile will withstand the impact of the Eaton and Palisades fires near Los Angeles, but the agency also gave a negative outlook that reflects “the potential …

Ash Left Behind by LA Wildfires Might Be Toxic, Experts Warn

Toni Boucher threw up the first time she saw the charred remains of her home and neighborhood after this month’s deadly Los Angeles-area wildfires. Now she wonders if it’s worth it to go back to sift through the ashes and …

Verisk Estimates Insured Losses for Palisades and Eaton Fires at $28B to $35B

New estimates peg insured losses to property from the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angels together will fall between $28 billion and $35 billion, which includes losses to the California FAIR Plan. The estimates out on Wednesday from the …

Wildfire-Risk Models Are Struggling to Predict LA-Style Fires

Among natural disasters, wildfires are the great unknown. Even the most-sophisticated scientific models fail to capture all the risk factors or properly account for the increasing impact of climate change. It’s a major problem for homeowners, insurers and investors, as …

LA Braces for Fire Risk From Bone-Dry Winds as Winter Rains Lag

Dangerous winds and drought will create extreme fire risk across Southern California Tuesday, putting more than 11 million people in the path of conditions that would allow blazes to spread quickly as the region holds out hope for rain. Seasonal …

Los Angeles Pushes to Rebuild Homes Fast, Despite Wildfire Danger

California politicians are rushing to make it easier for residents to rebuild their homes incinerated in the Los Angeles firestorms. That means waiving green construction mandates designed to combat climate change — which is driving such conflagrations by making conditions …