The January 2025 LA fires, by the numbers: what was destroyed and what rebuilding demands

About this data

Structures damaged by wildfire in Southern California (CAL FIRE DINS) Observed

CAL FIRE Damage Inspection (DINS) database, POSTFIRE_MASTER_DATA_SHARE (CAL FIRE, Office of the State Fire Marshal)

Covers through Jan 6, 2026. Retrieved Oct 1, 2026.

Notes (6)

• Counts are structures inspected by CAL FIRE damage inspection teams after each fire, by damage level, building type and year built. A structure is a building, not a home: an apartment building is one structure.
• Not every fire is inspected, and some fires on local or federal land are missing. Records start in 2013.
• Before 2018 inspectors recorded only damaged and destroyed structures; since 2018 they also record undamaged ones, so 'no damage' counts are not comparable across that break.
• Single-family includes mobile homes. Commercial includes mixed commercial/residential buildings. Other means sheds, garages, barns and infrastructure.
• Year built comes from county assessor records. It is a fact about the building, not evidence of any material inside it.
• CAL FIRE last updated this data on 2026-01-06; 'as of' is that date.

Eaton & Palisades fire rebuild cases, unincorporated LA County Observed

Los Angeles County Public Works, EPIC-LA Fire Recovery Cases (refreshed each business day); LA County Permitting Progress Dashboard; LA County 2025 Fire Rebuilding Metric Definitions (what each stage means)

Covers through Oct 1, 2026. Retrieved Oct 1, 2026.

Notes (4)

• Plan and permit cases for Eaton and Palisades fire recovery in unincorporated Los Angeles County only (for example Altadena). The City of Los Angeles (most of Pacific Palisades), Pasadena, Malibu and other cities issue their own permits and are not included.
• Counts are cases, not homes: one rebuild usually has several cases (plans, building permit, ADU, temporary housing).
• Stage totals count every case that has reached that stage, as on the County's Permitting Progress Dashboard. Monthly counts are by month of application, permit issue or final inspection; the current month is left out until it ends.
• The stages are not a strict funnel: some older plan cases and standalone permits skip stages, so a later stage can be larger than an earlier one.

Wildfire perimeters in Southern California since 2015 Observed

CAL FIRE FRAP, California Fire Perimeters (interagency: CAL FIRE, USFS, BLM, NPS, FWS) (Fire years 2015-2025); NIFC WFIGS Interagency Perimeters (year to date) (Fires discovered in 2026; perimeters are preliminary and change while fires burn); U.S. Census Bureau TIGERweb county boundaries

Covers through Sep 19, 2026. Retrieved Oct 1, 2026.

Notes (5)

• Fires of 10 acres or more that burned in a Southern California county. A fire that crossed a county line is counted in each county for the acres that burned there.
• 2015-2025 perimeters come from CAL FIRE's historic fire perimeter database; 2026 fires come from the national (NIFC) year-to-date perimeters, which are preliminary until CAL FIRE publishes the year.
• Start dates are the local discovery date where the fire can be matched to the national incident record; otherwise CAL FIRE's alarm date, which can read one day late for evening starts.
• Perimeters show where fire burned, not damage; most of the acreage is wildland.
• Map outlines are simplified for display.

Restoration trades by county: establishments, jobs and wages Observed

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) (county files, private employers; industry codes electricians 23821, plumbing & hvac 23822, drywall & insulation 23831, painters 23832, roofers 23816, remediation & abatement 562910, residential builders 2361)

Covers through Q1 2026. Retrieved Oct 1, 2026.

Notes (7)

• Private-sector employers only. Counts are by where the business is located, not where the work is done.
• Jobs are the average of the quarter's three monthly payroll counts. Self-employed workers and owners without employees are not counted.
• Average weekly wage is total quarterly pay divided by 13 weeks and by average jobs, in current dollars (not adjusted for inflation).
• BLS publishes county trade data at the 5-digit industry level (4-digit for residential building); remediation is the one 6-digit industry it publishes by county.
• BLS revises the most recent quarters; this data is rebuilt from the latest release.
• There is no industry code for fire, water and mold restoration contractors: they are counted among remodelers, other specialty trades, building services and remediation. These counts describe the trades restoration work depends on, not restoration firms themselves.
• BLS withholds jobs and wages to protect employer confidentiality for Riverside remediation & abatement in 2019Q1–2020Q2 and 2020Q4; the establishment count is still shown.