LA fires rewriting record books as residents brace for next bout with dangerous winds

Even as four wildfires continued to burn in Los Angeles County Wednesday and residents braced for a new round of dangerous winds, the blazes were already rewriting the record books.

Over the last eight days, seven fires have broken out across the nation's second-largest metropolitan area, ravaging a combined area bigger than the 40 square miles that comprise the city of San Francisco and nearly twice the size of Manhattan, New York.

The two biggest infernos, the Palisades and the Eaton fires are now among the most destructive blazes in California history, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

As of Tuesday, the Eaton Fire, which has burned 14,117 acres and destroyed more than 7,000 structures, was the second most destructive fire in state history behind the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California's Butte County, which consumed 153,336 acres and leveled 18,804 structures, according to Cal Fire.

The Palisades Fire has surged to fourth on Cal Fire's list of most destructive wildfires in the Golden State after destroying more than 5,000 structures and burning 23,713 acres of drought-parched land.

The 62 square miles comprising the fire zones is just a part of the 4,083 square miles that make up all L.A. County.

Regarding the death toll from the fires, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner is investigating 16 deaths in connection with the Eaton Fire. That makes it the fifth deadliest wildfire in state history, leaping over three fires that each caused 15 deaths -- the Rattlesnake Fire of 1953 in Northern California, the 2003 Cedar Fire in San Diego and the 2020 North Complex Fire in Northern California's Butte, Plumas and Yuba counties.

The medical examiner is investigating nine deaths in connection with the Palisades Fire in the oceanfront community of Pacific Palisades, which ranks 14 on the list of deadliest California wildfires.

The Eaton and Palisades fires combined have burned an area the equivalent of 2,324 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseums, one of the biggest football stadiums in the country.

The Palisades Fire was 19% contained on Tuesday, according to Cal Fire. The Eaton Fire was 45% contained.

The fires are expected to cost insurers as much as $30 billion, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs estimated in a report released this week. After accounting for non-insured damages, the total costs will balloon to $40 billion, the report said.

Wednesday marked the third straight day the National Weather Service (NWS) had issued a rare "particularly dangerous situation" red flag alert for Los Angeles County.

More than 15,000 firefighters, including crews from outside the state and nation, were scrambling Wednesday to put out hotspots ahead a new Santa Ana wind event forecast to buffet the region with up to 70 mph gusts.

"Everybody here urges you to remain alert as danger has not yet passed," Chief Kristin Crowley of the Los Angeles Fire Department said at a news conference.

LAFD Capt. Sheila Kelliher told ABC News that in anticipation of the new wind event, fire crews and equipment have been pre-positioned in vulnerable areas and that air tankers have coated hillsides in front of burn areas "with a ton of fire retardant."

"So, we're ready if the winds do kick up over here," Kelliher said.

Kelliher said a big concern was protecting communities where no fires have yet to emerge like the Santa Clarita Valley, about 30 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, and along the Highway 101 corridor northwest of downtown L.A.

"The start that hasn't happened I think is what kind of keeps us up," Kelliher said.

The causes of the fires remain under investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Meanwhile, FEMA is reporting that it has received more than 40,000 applications for emergency disaster aid.

About 80,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation.

Fire victims like Zaire Calvin of Altadena, whose sister Evelyn McClendon perished in a blaze that burned down their family home, shuddered to think of another blaze like the Eaton Fire igniting.

"It looked like a volcano," Calvin told ABC News. "When you're mourning your sister's death, there's no real understanding. There's no understanding. There's no way to even take it in."

Calvin said residents like him, whose lives have been upturned by the fires, face an uncertain future as they decide whether to rebuild.

"Everyone is fighting," Calvin said. "Everyone is literally just asking, leaning on each other to say, 'What's next? What's the best thing to do?'"