For the Record:

Where do the recent Eaton and Palisades fires stack up against other historic California wildfire disasters?

Living with wildfire has long been a part of living on the West Coast, just like people in Florida know hurricanes and people in Minnesota know frigid weather. BUT – It’s been long enough since the elements of fire, weather and human occupied space aligned to cause this kind of event in Southern California that the last few local entrants from the So Cal area have fallen far out of the current “top 20/most ever” ratings. For example:

Paint Fire, June 1990, Santa Barbara, 641 structures lost
Bel Air fire, Nov 1961, LA City, 505 structures lost
Laguna Fire, Oct 1993, Orange County, 441 structures lost
Laguna Fire, Sep 1970, San Diego, 382 structures lost
Panorama Fire, Nov 1980, San Bernardino, 325 structures lost
Topanga Fire, Nov 1993, LA County, 323 structures lost
Kinneloa Fire, Oct 1993, LA County, 196 structures lost

As you will see however, the comparative size and scope of the destruction of these recent events makes our previous local experience pale in comparison. These are horrifically devastating disasters and those communities affected will be coping with recovery for years to come.

Here’s where we are now, and the numbers are not final yet.

Sources: https://www.fire.ca.gov/our-impact/statistics , Wayback Machine at Internet Archive