Understanding How Massive the LA Fires Are

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

Since Tuesday, Jan. 7, nine fires in and around Los Angeles County—including five that remain uncontained—have so far burned approximately 29,000 acres, according to CAL FIRE, a web service by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

That’s around twice the size of Manhattan—or the equivalent of about 22,000 football fields or nearly 200 golf courses.

And, driven by a confluence of factors including fierce winds, the flames continue to expand. Already, over 10,000 structures have been destroyed, according to CAL FIRE, and at least 10 people have been killed, according to the county medical examiner—while the death toll is expected to rise.

Read More: Home Losses From the LA Fires Hasten ‘An Uninsurable Future’

As of 2 a.m. Pacific Time, Friday, Jan. 10, according to CAL FIRE: the first of the fires, the Palisades fire, which has wreaked havoc on the coastal neighborhood of Pacific Palisades that’s home to many celebrities, has an incident area of 19,978 acres; the Eaton fire, which is centered further east in LA County around the city of Altadena, has an incident area of 13,690 acres; the Kenneth fire in the Woodland Hills area has an incident area of 960 acres; the Hurst fire in San Fernando Valley has an incident area of 771 acres; and the Lidia fire near Antelope Valley has an incident area of 394 acres; and the contained Sunset, Woodley, Olivas, and Tyler fires had a combined incident area of 95 acres.

Still, this week’s California fires, 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.