Roughly 26 million California residents are under red flag warnings as hurricane-force winds continue to fuel a dozen different named wildfires blazing throughout the Golden State, in addition to at least six others that have broken out over the last 48 hours. On Wednesday, a new wildfire broke out in Simi Valley in Ventura County that put roughly 26,000 residents under mandatory evacuation orders and threatened the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library with blazes reaching within 30 yards of the landmark. Dubbed the Easy Fire, this new outbreak was fueled by high winds of up to 80 mph that fanned the flames of the many wildfires across the area, but tripled the size of the Easy Fire within two hours Wednesday morning to cover 1,300 acres and threaten nearly 7,000 homes.

Early damage estimates released

Bloomberg reported one damage estimate has already reached $25.4 billion and counting. According to Chuck Watson, disaster modeler at Enki Research in Savannah, Georgia, the Kincade fire cost could be $10.6 billion, while the cumulative cost in Southern California could reach $14.8 billion, mainly from the Tick, Getty and Saddle Ridge blazes, and with other fires breaking out, this number could likely grow. CoreLogic has released preliminary estimates for three of the largest wildfires: Kincade, Tick and Getty. As of Tuesday afternoon, there were 221 single-family homes at risk of wildfire damage within the perimeter of the Kincade Fire that have a total estimated reconstruction cost value (RCV) of $150 million.  Within the perimeter of the Tick Fire, there were 601 single-family homes at risk of wildfire damage with an estimated RCV of $248 million. Lastly, the Getty Fire put 162 single-family homes at risk of wildfire damage with an estimated RCV of $137 million. Combined, these three wildfires alone threaten an estimated total of 984 single-family homes with a combined RCV of $535 million. This is an ongoing story that will continue to be updated. See also:

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