Summary
Wildfires are a significant and growing concern in the United States, with an average of 70,025 fires burning approximately 7 million acres annually in the past decade. Climate change and increased development in wildland-urban interface areas have exacerbated the frequency and intensity of wildfires, leading to longer fire seasons and more destructive blazes across the country.
Los Angeles wildfires
Uncommon for January, the Los Angeles wildfires were driven by a perfect storm of extreme weather and environmental conditions of moderate drought conditions with at least eight previous months without rain. The first blaze ignited on Tuesday morning, January 7th, in the Pacific Palisades area and fuelled by strong Santa Ana winds with gusts up to 160 km/h (100 mph), the fire rapidly expanded southward. By Wednesday, January 8th, multiple fires had developed, including the Palisades Fire, which grew from 300 acres to nearly 3,000 acres in just hours.
Skytek utilized thermal satellite imagery to track the development of fire clusters as they progressed. Figure 1 illustrates the primary fire clusters wreaking havoc in the Pacific Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst areas, with red patches indicating heat signatures recorded on January 9th, 2025.
In response to the rapidly evolving Los Angeles wildfires, Skytek deployed its cutting-edge technology to provide critical support and analysis. Utilizing high-resolution imagery systems and proprietary machine learning algorithms, Skytek’s team implemented advanced damage detection and mapping capabilities to support tracking of the fire’s progression, precise mapping of affected properties and environmental damage, and rapid quantification of losses.
Pre and post high-resolution satellite imagery was acquired by Skytek to detect, highlight and quantify the changes associated with the wildfire damage.
Skytek employed its proprietary change detection algorithm to evaluate the impact of the wildfires, creating a visual layer that highlights areas of damage. The algorithm identifies property boundaries in both pre-and post-wildfire images, producing a comprehensive damage layer that marks clusters of affected properties across the entire area of interest, as highlighted in Figure 3, while the corresponding satellite imagery is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 – PlanetLabs satellite imagery of Pacific Palisades on January 09th, 2025
Figure 3 – PlanetLabs satellite imagery of Pacific Palisades on January 09th, 2025 overlaid with Skytek ML damage layer
Conclusion
The Los Angeles wildfires rapidly escalated after igniting on the morning of January 7th, 2025.
By January 8th, multiple fires had erupted across the region, including the Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire near Pasadena, Hurst Fire in Sylmar, and Woodley Fire in a natural reserve, collectively consuming over 11,800 acres. As of January 10th, 2025, the wildfires have burned approximately 34,000 acres, with the Palisades Fire being the largest at over 21,000 acres and the Eaton Fire consuming more than 13,000. These fires have caused significant destruction, prompting evacuation orders for nearly 200,000 residents, and threatening more than 13,000 buildings.
The affected areas include some of Los Angeles’ most affluent neighbourhoods, such as Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Santa Monica, and Temescal Canyon. These regions are known for high-value single-family homes and multimillion-dollar estates.
As of January 2025, the median home price in Pacific Palisades is approximately $3.3 million, considerably higher than Los Angeles’ overall median of $1.0 million. Notably, the wildfires have endangered properties owned by celebrities and influential figures, including homes in Hollywood Hills and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which was evacuated due to its proximity to the flames.
Damage from the wildfires is primarily concentrated in Pacific Palisades, where an estimated 13,300 housing units are within the fire perimeter, valued at around $17 billion. As of January 10th, Cal Fire reports that only 8% of the 21,000 acres affected in Palisades and 3% of the 14,000 acres in Eaton have been contained.
The estimated value of properties in Palisades exceeds $15 billion, while total property values in all affected areas – including Eaton, Kenneth, Hurst, Lidia, and Archer, are potentially over $135 billion.
The Palisades Fire is regarded as one of the most destructive wildfires in California history, ranking just behind the August Complex Fire of August 16th, 2020, which burned over 1 million acres, and the Camp Fire of November 8th, 2018. As of January 10th, 2025, the Palisades Fire has caused extensive damage and remains a critical event in California’s ongoing battle with wildfires.
