Palisades Fire cost Los Angeles at least $350m in broken infrastructure and ‘will likely grow’
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Cumulative damages from L.A.-area fires could reach as much as $50 billion, according to one estimate. The Pacific Palisades fire and other blazes within the city limits have cost Los Angeles at least $350 million in damage to public infrastructure, according to a city estimate.
![[The Biden administration promised to reimburse Los Angeles for large parts of its fire response, but wildfire aid may be stopped under Trump]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/14/18/GettyImages-2193232716.jpg)
The estimate, which does not factor in damage to private homes and businesses, or public infrastructure lost in the nearby Eaton fire in Altadena, was announced Wednesday in a presentation to the L.A. city council. City Administrative Office Matt Szabo said the $350 million figure included $76 million in damage to water and power infrastructure, as well as $48 million in losses on sanitation facilities.
The city is preparing to submit damage estimates to the federal government after the Biden administration pledged to reimburse 100 percent of debris removal and emergency response costs submitted within 180 days of L.A. declaring an emergency. However, some federal aid to Los Angeles may be tied up in the ongoing party changeover in Washington.
Los Angeles is among those jurisdictions. Regardless of whether the federal aid comes through, the city of Los Angeles and the wider metropolitan area around it face huge rebuilding costs. The Eaton fire, which occurred just outside city limits, destroyed over 9,400 structures and damaged more than 1,000 others, decimating a historically Black enclave where many families managed to buy and own homes despite decades of racially discriminatory housing policies around L.A.
