L.A. County fires among most destructive ever recorded in California

State of play: Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said at a Thursday briefing it's "safe to say" the largest blaze, the Palisades Fire, is "one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles."

• It's estimated the wildfire that erupted on Tuesday in Pacific Palisades has burned 5,316 structures across 19,978 acres at 6% containment in the affluent L.A. area between Malibu and Santa Monica as of late Thursday.
• That makes the blaze that's killed at least two people California's third-most destructive on record, in terms of structures burned, per Cal Fire.
• The Eaton Fire, which has killed at least three people since igniting on Tuesday, ranks fourth in Cal Fire's top-20 most destructive wildfires, with "5,000+" structures destroyed.
• It's burned at 0% containment over an estimated 13,690 acres north of Pasadena as of late Thursday, though fire officials said growth had been "significantly" stopped.

Context: The largest fire ever recorded in California, 2020's August Complex Fire, razed more than one million acres north of Sacramento and destroyed 935 structures, per Cal Fire.

Driving the news: Many of the fires were sparked in densely populated areas during an extreme wind event that's been more catastrophic than the last big one to hit Southern California in 2011.

• No major wildfires ignited during the 2011 Santa Ana wind event, but Yale Climate Connections notes this was "largely because Los Angeles was not experiencing drought at that time," but the region is currently in severe drought.
• There's been no meaningful rainfall for months in some areas, which Axios' Andrew Freedman notes are experiencing the driest conditions on record for early January following an unusually hot summer that dried out vegetation. This time of year is typically the region's wet season.
• Bass noted at a briefing Wednesday, "Hurricane-force winds are usually accompanied by rain storms, but these hurricane-force winds are combined with extremely dry drought conditions."
• Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell at the same briefing described the situation as "unprecedented."

Between the lines: "Climate change, while certainly not the only relevant factor, has indeed increased the risk of extreme California wildfires," wrote UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain on Bluesky.

• "The main reason is increasing temperatures & atmospheric 'thirstiness,"' but increased precipitation 'whiplash'/seasonal shifts is also an emerging factor," he added, referring to when there are rapid swings between intensely wet and dangerously dry weather.

• "The evidence shows that hydroclimate whiplash has already increased due to global warming, and further warming will bring about even larger increases," said Swain in a statement announcing a study he led on the matter that was published in Nature Review Wednesday.
• "This whiplash sequence in California has increased fire risk twofold: first, by greatly increasing the growth of flammable grass and brush in the months leading up to fire season, and then by drying it out to exceptionally high levels with the extreme dryness and warmth that followed."

What we're watching: Swain said during a livestream he expects SoCal's "urban firestorm" will likely become "the costliest wildfire disaster in California, if not national history, along with a number of other superlatives."

• But the extreme weather threat is far from over. Wind gusts of up to 55 mph were forecast into Friday, with more gusty north-to-northeast winds expected to develop over the weekend.
• A stronger offshore wind event could occur over Monday night and Tuesday, per the National Weather Service.

More from Axios:

• The landmarks impacted by the LA County fires
• LA's wildfires sparked by rare collision of climate factors
• California fires stress already pressured insurance industry
• Los Angeles County fires' destruction shown in before and after images