Here’s a look at California’s five most destructive wildfires
Oct 8, 2025, 12:24 PM
FILE - The remains of homes leveled by the Camp wildfire, appear in Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Palisades Fire was the most destructive blaze in Los Angeles to date and among the five worst in California’s history.
Federal authorities said Wednesday that they have charged Jonathan Rinderknecht, a 29-year-old man who had lived in the area, with starting the deadly fire that destroyed much of the wealthy Pacific Palisades neighborhood. The fire started on New Year’s Day and was initially extinguished by fire crews but continued to smolder underground before reigniting during high winds on Jan. 7.
Here’s a look at the state’s five most destructive wildfires, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
The Camp Fire in 2018 in Paradise is the state’s most destructive blaze and one of the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed more than 18,800 structures, including some 11,000 homes. The town was almost entirely destroyed. It caused over $12.5 billion in damages.
At least 26,000 people were displaced. Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. power lines sparked the Northern California blaze, officials said.
The Eaton Fire that erupted on Jan. 7 destroyed more than 9,400 homes and other structures and killed 19 people in the community of Altadena in Los Angeles County. Southern California Edison said this spring that it was starting a program to compensate victims, even as the cause of the blaze remains under investigation.
The creation of the Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program seems to suggest that the utility is prepared to acknowledge what several lawsuits claim: Its equipmentsparked the conflagration in Altadena.
The Palisades Fire in Los Angeles was the most destructive in the city’s history. The blaze killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 homes and buildings in Pacific Palisades. The fire ripped through hillside neighborhoods, destroying mansions with spectacular ocean views.
Rinderknecht was arrested Tuesday in Florida and made his first court appearance Wednesday in Orlando on charges including malicious destruction by means of a fire, which carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison. He told a federal magistrate that he was not under the influence and did not have mental issues.
The judge set a hearing for Thursday to consider bond and extradition proceedings. Aisha Nash, the federal public defender assigned to represent Rinderknecht, did not respond to Associated Press requests for comment.
The October 2017 Tubbs Fire killed 22 people and destroyed more than 5,600 buildings in Northern California wine country. The city of Santa Rosa, where many homes were destroyed, was hit especially hard.
State investigators said it was caused by a private electrical system.
The Tunnel Fire that started in October 1991 killed 25 people when it roared down the densely populated hillsides of Oakland, trapping people in homes and on narrow, winding streets. It began as a small grass fire that firefighters thought they had contained, only to see it roar back to life when smoldering embers ignited other brush as fierce winds erupted. It claimed 2,900 homes and buildings.
