The China Mail - Los Angeles wildfires in figures

Here are the main figures showing the scale of the massive wildfires that have engulfed Los Angeles County since Tuesday.

- Five blazes ongoing -

Los Angeles is being ravaged by five different big blazes.

The largest, the Palisades Fire northwest of the nation's second most populous city, has consumed 81 square kilometers (31 square miles).

It has ravaged the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, home to multimillionaires and celebrities.

The second, at 55 square kilometers, is the Eaton Fire in Altadena, an eastern suburb of Los Angeles. The two fires are still out of control, according to state agency Cal Fire.

Three much smaller blazes, the Kenneth Fire (four sq km), the Hurst Fire (three sq km) and the Lidia Fire (1.6 sq km), have been partly contained -- by 35 percent, 37 percent and 75 percent respectively.

- 145 square kilometers -

The fires have ripped through nearly 36,000 acres (14,500 hectares or 145 square kilometers.)

Compared to other fires which have hit California in recent years and spread sometimes over several thousand square kilometers, the current blazes are smaller in size.

However they are particularly deadly and destructive because they are located in residential areas.

- 10 dead -

To date, at least 10 people are known to have died, Los Angeles County's coroner said Thursday.

At least two died in the Palisades Fire and at least five in the Eaton Fire, according to firefighters.

If one of the blazes ends up killing six people, it would become one of the 20 deadliest in California history, according to official data.

- 10,000 buildings destroyed -

At least 10,000 houses and other structures have already gone up in smoke, including at least 5,000 in the Palisades Fire and between 4,000 and 5,000 in the Eaton Fire, according to Los Angeles County firefighters.

The two fires are already the most destructive in the history of Los Angeles County.

By comparison, the Camp Fire ravaged nearly 19,000 buildings north of Sacramento in November 2018, and the Tubbs Fire destroyed 5,600 north of San Francisco in October 2017.

- 180,000 people evacuated -

Around 180,000 people have been ordered to leave their neighborhoods. Authorities have been pleading with residents to heed the evacuation orders, as some residents stayed behind trying to save their properties.

The legendary neighborhood of Hollywood, threatened at one point by the Sunset Fire, was also evacuated, but the order was lifted Thursday morning after the fire in its hills was brought under control.

- 20 arrests -

The neighborhoods hit by the fires face another danger: looting. Police have arrested at least 20 people for theft in the Los Angeles region since the first fires broke out Tuesday.

A nightime curfew has been announced and the National Guard has been deployed to patrol affected areas.

- $150 billion in damage -

With the destruction of luxury residences, the fires could end up being the costliest on record. Private meteorological firm AccuWeather has estimated the damage at between $135 and 150 billion. And that could go up.

N.Lo--ThChM