The scale and speed of the growth of the wildfires in Southern California have been horrifying to watch.
Since the morning of Tuesday, January 7, 2025, the perfect weather conditions for firestorms have bred dozens of wildfires, with the largest by an overwhelming margin being the Palisades fire and the Eaton fire in the mountains just north of Los Angeles.
As of the morning of Tuesday, January 14, just over a week after the fires first began, the combined total burn area of the wildfires has reached about 40,600 acres or approximately 164 sq km — up from about 37,000 acres or 150 sq km on Saturday, January 11.
As of the time of writing, over two dozen deaths have been recorded, over 200,000 people remain evacuated, and over 12,000 buildings have been destroyed or substantially damaged.
One estimate today pegs the potential total damage and economic loss to date at between US$250 billion and US$275 billion.
To provide Canadians with some perspective, at 164 sq km, the combined size of the burn area of these wildfires is equivalent to the combined geographical area of the City of Vancouver (115 sq km), University of British Columbia (UBC) campus and the University Endowment Lands (16 sq km), Pacific Spirit Regional Park (9 sq km), City of North Vancouver (12 sq km), and the City of New Westminster (16 sq km) put together.
The combined size of the burn area is also equivalent to just over half the size of the City of Surrey (316 sq km).
The burn areas are also equivalent to 20% of the City of Calgary (821 sq km), 21% of the City of Edmonton (766 sq km), over 25% of the City of Toronto (641 sq km), and nearly 40% the City of Montreal (432 sq km).
In contrast, the July 2024 wildfire that swept through Jasper, Alberta, had a burn area of 96,000 acres or 388 sq km. The key difference with the Los Angeles wildfires is that they are occurring in highly urbanized areas.
View from Santa Monica Beach; Palisades fire, as of January 7, 2025. (Charles Ellinwood/Shutterstock)
View from Los Angeles International Airport; Palisades fire, as of January 7, 2025. (Lisa Bronitt/Shutterstock)
Palisades fire, as of January 8, 2025. (Lisa Bronitt/Shutterstock)
Just north of Santa Monica in the Los Angeles area, the Palisades fire is the first and largest of the wildfires, and as of the morning of January 14, it has had a burn area of 23,700 acres or 96 sq km — accounting for nearly 60% of the entire burn area of the wildfires in Southern California. Much of the overall death toll, number of evacuees, and destruction to property is attributed to the Palisades fire.
Vancouver-based tech firm Intergalactic Agency has created maps that compare the size of the Palisades fire alone with the metropolitan regions of Metro Vancouver, Calgary Region, Greater Toronto, and Greater Montreal.
Ben West, the founder of Intergalactic, told Daily Hive Urbanized that the various maps are based on the Palisades fire’s previous size of 22,950 acres or 93 sq km as of the morning of Monday, January 13.
To create an accurate size comparison, his team pulled GIS open data from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and transposed it over Canada’s four largest metropolitan regions. They also accounted for the differences in latitude and scale.
Size of the Palisades fire transposed over Metro Vancouver, as of January 13, 2025. (Intergalactic Agency)
Size of the Palisades fire transposed over Metro Vancouver, as of January 13, 2025. (Intergalactic Agency)
For the comparisons with Metro Vancouver, the Palisades fire alone would cover over 80% of the City of Vancouver’s land area. When the burn area of this massive wildfire is transposed over Vancouver, its borders would be framed to the west by the Museum of Anthropology at the very tip of the Vancouver peninsula at UBC, to the east by Boundary Road, to the north by 23rd Street in Central Lonsdale in North Vancouver, and to the south by 41st Avenue in Vancouver.
When transposed over the North Shore of Metro Vancouver, nearly all urban areas between Park Royal in West Vancouver and Deep Cove in North Vancouver would be wiped out by the Palisades fire. The northernmost extent of the wildfire would reach the actual peak of Mount Seymour.
Size of the Palisades fire transposed over Metro Vancouver, as of January 13, 2025. (Intergalactic Agency)
Size of the Palisades fire transposed over Metro Vancouver, as of January 13, 2025. (Intergalactic Agency)
Size of the Palisades fire transposed over Metro Vancouver, as of January 13, 2025. (Intergalactic Agency)
In Calgary, the Palisades fire would span a west-east distance between the Wentworth neighbourhood and the Forest Lawn neighbourhood. The northernmost extent would nearly reach the terminal building of Calgary International Airport, while the southernmost extent would reach the Currie Barracks neighbourhood.
In the Toronto area, it would stretch from the Islington neighbourhood to the west, Thorncliffe Park to the east, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre to the north, and Ward’s Island on Toronto Island to the south.
And in Montreal, the Palisades fire would cover one-third of the area of the Island of Montreal, with an area framed by Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport to the west, St. Helen’s Island and Nuns’ Island to the east, the Prefontaine subway station to the north, and the Montreal West subway station to the south.
As of the time of writing, the fire risk in the mountains of the Los Angeles area remains extremely high, with the Palisades fire only about 17% contained, and the Eaton fire — the second largest fire, with a burn area of 14,100 acres or 57 sq km — about 35% contained.
Size of the Palisades fire transposed over Calgary, as of January 13, 2025. (Intergalactic Agency)
Size of the Palisades fire transposed over Toronto, as of January 13, 2025. (Intergalactic Agency)
Size of the Palisades fire transposed over Montreal, as of January 13, 2025. (Intergalactic Agency)