As firefighters across California worked to put out a string of wildfires across the state while prompting the evacuation of Los Angeles’ Reagan Presidential Library, 984 homes are in the direct zone of potential exposure to the flames.
According to estimates released by property analytics provider CoreLogic on Wednesday, 984 homes are at risk of being damaged in the Kincade, Tick and Getty fires. The reconstruction costs for the properties could total up to $535 million. Those estimates include $150 million for the Kincade Fire, $248 million for the Tick Fire and $137 million for the Getty Fire, according to CoreLogic.
The Kincade Fire, which started last Wednesday, has already blazed a path through 76,825 acres of Sonoma County. Due to high winds in the area, firefighters have only managed to contain 30 percent of the fire as hundreds remain under mandatory evacuation orders. The fire, which was likely sparked by a broken cable on a high-voltage tower, has also left hundreds of thousands of people without power.
“It’s crazy to think that two years later we are going through this again,” Sarah Carlson, an agent at W Real Estate in Santa Rosa, told Inman on Friday.. “The smoke is thick and there are helicopters and bomber planes flying over throughout the day. Many other fires have started but been put out throughout the county.”
The Tick Fire, which is spreading across the southern Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties, has already burned through 658 acres of land, destroyed eight homes and damaged five others. More than 1,100 firefighters have been working to curb the flames, which are expected to pick up even more on Wednesday and Thursday. The Los Angeles Weather Service declared the entire area under “extreme red-flag warning.”
And firefighters in Los Angeles are also dealing with another fire. The Getty Fire, named after the city’s art museum that is in the zone of the fire, started after high winds brought a tree branch crashing into a power line. It has burned through over 700 acres of land and forced thousands, including NBA star player LeBron James, to evacuate their homes. By Wednesday, over 7,000 homes were under mandatory evacuation orders.
Another fire, the Easy Fire, has been threatening the Simi Valley in Southern California. The wildfire, which destroyed 972 acres of nearby land, forced authorities to evacuate the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley on Wednesday.
This time of year is a particularly dangerous time for wildfires across the West Coast, and California in particular. High winds and dry weather combine to create a fire-friendly situations and put thousands of properties across the area at risk.