Everything you need to know about the SoCal wildfires up to this point
On Tuesday, Jan. 8, Southern Californians woke up to extreme fire danger and a wind storm that had the National Weather Service issuing terrifying warnings about the danger. That proved prophetic. By evening, destructive fires were ripping through Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Fire is a natural part of California’s landscape, but there are a whole host of reasons why they’ve gotten so bad in recent years. Today on AirTalk, we’re partnering with fellow NPR member station KNPR in Las Vegas for a joint broadcast looking into the recent wildfires that ravaged Southern California. Joining us to discuss how the climate contributed to the outbreak of the Eaton and Palisades fires is LAist science reporter Jacob Margolis.
With files from LAist
LA Fires: How housing will be impacted in LA, Vegas and surrounding regions
Angelenos have been flocking to the Las Vegas area for years with the prospect of cheaper housing. Almost 158,000 people moved from California to Nevada between 2019 and 2024, according to an investigation by the Las Vegas Review-Journal that looked into license surrenders to the Nevada DMV. That makes Californians 43 percent of Nevada’s new residents. Now, with the recent LA wildfires, Las Vegas is bracing itself for a new influx. Over 15,000 structures, many of them homes, have been destroyed or damaged between the Palisades and Eaton fires. Evacuations alone displaced thousands of LA residents to nearby cities, but what the fires will mean in the long term for LA’s housing market has yet to be determined. And if Pacific Palisades and Altadena residents decide not to rebuild or move back, where will they go? How might fleeing Angelenos affect neighboring states like Nevada?
This morning on AirTalk, we’re partnering with fellow NPR member station KNPR in Las Vegas for a joint broadcast looking into how the wildfires in Greater Los Angeles might affect the housing market in Las Vegas. We’re joined by Patrick Blennerhasset, housing and real estate reporter at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and Seva Rodnyansky, research manager at the Housing Policy Initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts.
California’s insurance market is pushed to the brink. What happens next?
The recent catastrophic fires in Los Angeles, which could be the most expensive in California’s history, are significantly impacting the state’s insurance market. The fires have worsened the financial situation of the FAIR Plan, California’s insurer of last resort. In upscale neighborhoods like Pacific Palisades, which includes many high-profile residents, around 20% of homes were insured through the FAIR Plan, which has seen a sharp rise in policyholders as other insurers have pulled out of the state due to the growing wildfire risk. Other parts of Los Angeles, such as Santa Monica, have also seen steep increases in FAIR Plan policies as nearby areas are affected by fires. Could these fires push the insurance market to the brink? Could the insurance market crash? Joining us this morning on AirTalk is Megan Munce, reporter on the climate team covering California’s home insurance crisis, David Russell, professor of insurance and finance and director for the Center for Risk Management and Insurance at CSU, Northridge and Ricardo Lara, California’s Insurance Commissioner.
