The January fires that devastated the communities of Altadena and Pacific Palisades have caused billions of dollars in damage and economic impact on a scale not seen in this region since the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
But according to a recent report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., how much impact the fires will have on the region’s economy will depend on one key factor: the speed of the recovery and rebuilding process.
The damage from the fires is mind-numbing: more than 16,200 structures destroyed, including roughly 11,000 single-family homes, 230 multifamily buildings, 200 commercial buildings and dozens of churches, schools and other institutional properties. Another 2,100 structures were damaged. And then there was the human toll, with 29 people killed in both fires.
On the business front, the report said 1,863 individual businesses were destroyed in both fires, with a cumulative employment total of about 9,600 people and total sales of roughly $1.4 billion.
The LAEDC report gave a range for the economic output loss from the fires: $4.6 billion and 25,000 job-years lost on the low end to $8.9 billion and 53,000 job-years lost on the high-end. For the overall economic impact, including property losses, the report gave a preliminary range of $28 billion to $53.8 billion for both fires.
Rapid progress through the debris removal, permitting and rebuilding phases would result in substantial recovery by 2028 and in the economic output loss figures toward the low end of the $4.6 billion to $8.9 billion range, the report said. But a process riddled with delays, conflicting directives and other disruptions could put off substantial recovery until 2034, driving the economic and job costs toward the upper end.
“Speed matters greatly in the recovery process,” said former California Gov. Gray Davis, co-chair of the Southern California Leadership Council, the business-sponsored public policy partnership for the region that commissioned…
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