• Wildfires are rampaging across Los Angeles County this week.
• Hundreds of thousands of people are under evacuation orders or warnings.
• A JP Morgan analyst estimated that the fire could become the costliest in US history.

Wildfires continue to rage in Los Angeles — and could become the costliest blazes in US history, according to a JPMorgan research note.

JPMorgan analyst Jimmy Bhullar estimated insured losses from the devastating fires in the Palisades area and beyond could total more than $20 billion, "significantly more severe" than the Camp Fires that struck the state in 2018 and racked up $10 billion in insured losses.

"The fires have not been contained thus far and continue to spread, implying that estimates of potential economic and insured losses are likely to increase," Bhullar wrote in the research note.

The LA area battled several fires that continued to rip through its picturesque mountains and hillsides on Thursday — creating a hellscape of burned-out neighborhoods and livelihoods, with nearly 180,000 people under evacuation orders.

Thick bands of smoke could be seen in several directions from the city's downtown core — with at least five fires burning throughout the 4,000 square-mile county that's home to nearly 10 million people.

As of Thursday morning local time, an additional 200,000 people had been placed under evacuation warnings — with officials advising them to get ready to leave their homes if the fires raging near their residences got closer.

More than 27,000 acres have burned so far — and at least five deaths have been reported, officials said. Authorities wouldn't confirm an exact death toll at a Thursday briefing.

They said "thousands" of homes and other structures had been destroyed so far.

Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman described the scene in LA as apocalyptic.

"Not since the 1990s, when Los Angeles was hit with the fires, the flood, the earthquake, and the riots, have I seen such disaster occur here in our city," Hochman said at the briefing, referring to the Northridge Earthquake and the disturbances in the wake of the Rodney King verdict.

Two of the largest fires, the Eaton Fire and the Palisades Fire, are still at zero percent containment, officials said. The National Weather Service predicted the "red flag warning" that signals high fire danger will persist for LA County and nearby Ventura County through Friday.

But there was some brightening on the horizon: Officials said weather conditions are beginning to turn favorably for firefighters.

Meanwhile, 20 people have been arrested on suspicion of looting in areas affected by the fires, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said at Thursday's briefing.

And he issued a stern warning to the public: Anyone who remains in areas under mandatory evacuation orders is guilty of a misdemeanor, and his officers will begin enforcing that. Beyond that, crimes like looting could reach the felony level, he said.

As for people still in their homes, around 95,000 power customers remain in the dark, Janisse Quiñones, the CEO and chief engineer of the city's Department of Water and Power, said. Satellite images showed the destruction in the wake of the fires.

Here's a look at the latest happenings in the main fires spreading throughout the area:

Palisades Fire

The Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades area north of Santa Monica was the first fire to strike the region on Tuesday morning. It has spread to over 17,000 acres, with zero percent containment, making it one of the worst natural disasters in LA history, officials said Thursday morning.

The blaze has reduced thousands of structures to rubble, but exact numbers are not yet known, the officials said.

Wind gusts in the area have tamed down some since their Tuesday highs of nearly 100 mph but remain up to 60 mph. They're expected to continue through Thursday.

Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley would not confirm reports that the fire started in a resident's garden, saying the origin is still under investigation.

The affluent area is home to many celebrities, including Paris Hilton and Billy Crystal, who have lost their homes in the blaze.

Eaton Fire

The second-largest fire in Los Angeles County is the Eaton Fire, which started on Tuesday evening in the Pasadena-Altadena area at the foothills of the Angeles National Forest.

The blaze has spread to over 10,000 acres and reduced at least 1,000 homes to ash as of Thursday, officials said. Like the Palisades Fire, it is zero percent contained.

Still, LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said the fire's growth has been "significantly stopped," and the cause remains unknown.

Hurst Fire

The Hurst Fire, which began late on Tuesday night in the northern part of the San Fernando Valley, has spread to around 855 acres, according to data from CalFire, a state agency.

LAFD's Crowley said the Hurst Fire was zero percent contained, while CalFire data estimates it is 10% contained.

Crowley said firefighters have been able to hold the fire within a containment area and have established a perimeter.

Sunset Fire and others

The Sunset Fire broke out in the Runyan Canyon area of the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening, quickly spreading to scorch over 40 acres and threaten major LA landmarks.

As of Thursday morning, firefighters were able to stop the fire's forward progress, Crowley said. Crews are still working to "put out spot fires within the perimeters to keep the wind from spreading any additional embers," she said.

All evacuation orders related to the Sunset Fire were lifted as of 7:30 a.m. Thursday, Crowley said.

Meanwhile, a large structure fire broke out nearby, consuming two large homes in the Studio City area. Still, firefighters were able to stop its forward growth at just one acre and prevent another brushfire, Crowley said.

Yet another fire, the Lidia Fire, started Wednesday afternoon in Acton near the Antelope Valley, about 20 miles northeast of the San Fernando Valley. It spread to consume 348 acres but has been 40% contained, with forward progress stopped, county fire chief Marrone said.

One of this week's fires has been 100% contained. The Woodley Fire, which began Wednesday morning in the southern part of the San Fernando Valley, has been suppressed and there are no current threats, Crowley said. Patrols are monitoring the area for any flare-ups, she added.

This a developing story. Please refresh for updates.

• Firefighters in LA have limited options against blazes so huge.
• Common tactics like firebreaks, controlled burns, and dousing vital buildings face big hurdles.
• A wildfire expert told BI that the fire is unlikely to be put out until LA's winds change.

Firefighters confronting the Los Angeles wildfires face hurdles to many tactics in their arsenal as they try to tame some 27,000 burning acres.

As of Thursday, more than 1,400 firefighters were battling several blazes with both ground crews and airdrops.

The firefighters of California "are amongst the best-trained and best-equipped wildfire fighters anywhere in the world," said Stefan Doerr, a professor of wildland fire science at the UK's Swansea University.

But, he told Business Insider, "they are really challenged by the fact that the winds are so extreme, as well as having several large fires burning at the same time."

His conclusion: Until the winds fanning the blazes die down, "putting out a fire like this is essentially impossible."

Numerous California officials gave a similar assessment, saying there was no immediate prospect of containing the fires.

'Not prepared'

Anthony Marrone, the fire chief of the County of Los Angeles Fire Department, told local outlet 6ABC: "LA County and all 29 fire departments in our county are not prepared for this type of widespread disaster."

They could handle one or two major fires, he said, "but not four."

Doerr, who did not have direct information about the LA fire services' plans, walked BI through some tactics generally used for major wildfires, and their limitations in combatting these fires.

1) Attack from the side

"This fire is very complex," said Doerr, pointing to the number of distinct blazes, some expanding in several directions at once.

Most of the fires were being pushed toward the sea by powerful inland air currents known as Santa Ana winds.

Doerr said there it is too dangerous to approach so huge a fire from the front, where it burns most intensely.

"It's usually attacked on the side to basically shrink the overall fire front," he said.

2) Use — or make — firebreaks

Common tactics include removing flammable material with bulldozers, he said. "Removing the vegetation is much more effective than trying to fight a fire like this with water."

The problem is that LA's topography is complex, making it hard to remove vegetation, he said.

"That leaves the firefighting forces with limited opportunities," he said. One option is to take advantage of natural firebreaks, such as roads and rivers, or other spots with no flammable vegetation, he said.

There, firefighters could wet the area or use a fire retardant to slow the fire, he said.

Even that, Doerr said, is "very, very challenging" in this instance.

"Even if they are able to basically stop the flames from moving over, say, a road or something directly, the strong winds often mean that you have embers flying over large distances," he said, adding that in some fires, these can travel miles.

That could, in turn, spark more fires, leapfrogging the barriers.

3) Soak important buildings

"When we see firefighters using water, it's often to protect properties — to stop them burning, rather than stopping the entire fire," Doerr said.

As well as ground crews, Chinook helicopters have been dropping thousands of gallons of water on the fire. "It's like having six fire trucks show up to your house every 10 minutes," Wayne Coulson, CEO of the Coulson Group, told Global News.

The fires have put immense strain on LA's water supply.

Three huge tanks of a million gallons each serving the Pacific Palisades ran dry within hours under "tremendous demand," said Janisse Quiñones, chief engineer and CEO of the LA department of water and power, according to The Guardian.

"We're fighting a wildfire with urban water systems, and that is really challenging," Quiñones said, per the paper.

4) Accept losses and prioritize

So many structures are under threat that it is impossible to protect all of them with water. Here, tough decisions have to be made, with important buildings like hospitals likely to receive priority, Doerr said.

More than 1,000 buildings have been destroyed, including the homes of celebrities like Paris Hilton and Billy Crystal.

Another extreme option would be to bulldoze whole streets to create a firebreak, Doerr said.

It would be a desperate measure against some of the most costly properties in the world — but "it's still cheaper than having it burn down, and burning the next building along the road," he said.

"Whether they take these extreme measures at the moment, I don't know, but they have done this in the past in extreme fires," he added.

Some tactics are likely out of bounds

One option that is likely out of reach is what Doerr called a "tactical burn."

When tackling some seasonal wildfires, firefighters light a smaller, controlled fire in the path of the main flames to burn away the available fuel, he said.

This can be really effective — but with the strong winds in LA, it risks making things even worse, Doerr said.

"Otherwise you're just going to generate a new fire that's going to burn further on," he said.

Waiting for the wind to change

Observers are anxiously keeping tabs on a key metric — the percentage of containment of the fire.

But it's often misunderstood. "'Contained' means that you basically stopped the edges of the fire from moving further," said Doerr. 100% containment means authorities are reasonably sure the fire can no longer spread, he said. From there, it can burn itself out.

According to the fire service, two smaller fires were partially contained as of early Thursday, at 10% and 40% each. The larger ones were at 0%.

For all their efforts, LA's firefighters are largely "at the mercy of the weather," Doerr said.

"In reality, most fires of such extremity tend to be stopped by a change in weather," he added.

Winds, which on Thursday were gusting up to 25 mph, are forecast by the National Weather Service to slow down to a maximum of 15 mph by Friday evening, offering the best opportunity yet to stop the blaze.

Until then, Doerr said, "putting out a fire like this is essentially impossible."

• Major fires are burning throughout the Los Angeles area, destroying thousands of buildings.
• Satellite images show flames wreaking havoc on houses and other structures.
• At least five people have died, and more than 100,000 residents were ordered to evacuate Wednesday.

At least five people have died and more than 100,000 have been ordered to evacuate as uncontrolled fires burn through parts of Los Angeles into a third day.

Five separate fires are sweeping through parts of the city and the surrounding areas, with one of the biggest blazes, the Palisades fire, expected to be the costliest in US history.

Satellite images provided to Business Insider by Maxar Technologies show the trail of destruction the fires have left in Altadena and Pacific Palisades, two of the most heavily affected areas.

A Delaware judge has approved a settlement that will see Tesla directors — including Chair Robyn Denholm, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Kimbal Musk, and James Murdoch — return up to $919 million to the automaker, officially resolving allegations that they overpaid themselves, per Reuters.  The settlement concludes a 2020 lawsuit by the Police and Fire […]

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The King and Queen were among the first to issue birthday wishes for the Princess of Wales

• Thousands of LA County homeowners face a volatile home insurance market.
• In recent months, State Farm — California's largest home insurer — dropped thousands of policyholders.
• Some have turned to the state's insurer of last resort.

Thousands of California homeowners at risk due to the Los Angeles County fires find themselves exposed in a volatile home insurance market.

Last year, California's largest home insurer — State Farm — canceled thousands of policyholders' plans across LA County, including the Pacific Palisades and parts of Santa Monica and Calabasas, that are under evacuation orders and warnings as the fires rage. Nearly 70% of State Farm policyholders in the affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood were dropped by the company beginning in July 2024.

The following table shows the ZIP codes that were under evacuation orders or warnings as of Wednesday afternoon that had the highest rate of nonrenewals from State Farm last year.

Several other major insurers have dramatically restricted their coverage across California in recent years, citing surging costs from more frequent and intense disasters coupled with rising home repair costs and inflation.

Thousands of LA County homeowners who haven't been able to obtain private insurance have joined the ranks of those covered by the state's insurer of last resort — the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) plan. The FAIR plan is regulated by the state government and backed by a slew of private insurance companies. But its premiums tend to be much higher than typical private insurers and its coverage is often more restricted.

This table shows how FAIR insurance coverage has changed in the above ZIP codes between 2023 and 2024.

As private insurers have stepped back in recent years, the number of residential FAIR plan holders across the state jumped 123% between September 2020 and September 2024. The FAIR plan's dollar-value residential exposure surged from $271 billion in September 2023 to $431 billion in September 2024.

It's not clear how many homeowners impacted by the LA County fires are uninsured. Most mortgage lenders require homeowners to purchase insurance, and some require additional insurance for specific disasters, including fires.

Some major home insurers, including Farmer's — the second-largest in California — have recently begun to expand their offerings in California after the state announced new regulations requiring insurers to cover a certain percentage of homes vulnerable to fire in exchange for allowing them to use future risk modeling to calculate premiums.

In 2023, California had the fourth-highest home insurance nonrenewal rate among states, according to a recently released Senate Budget Committee report. Six of the top 10 counties in the country with the highest rates of nonrenewals by large home insurers in 2023 were in California, the report found.

But rising home insurance costs and rates of dropped policies are nationwide problems. The National Bureau of Economic Research recently reported that average home insurance premiums spiked by 13%, adjusted for inflation, between 2020 and 2023. The share of home insurance policies from large insurers that weren't renewed increased last year in 46 states, the Senate report found. And more than 200 US counties saw their non-renewal rates spike threefold between 2018 and 2023.

Areas more vulnerable to disasters, including flooding, wildfires, and hurricanes, have seen the biggest spikes in premiums and dropped policies.

"Our number one priority right now is the safety of our customers, agents and employees impacted by the fires and assisting our customers in the midst of this tragedy," a representative for State Farm told BI.

A representative from the California FAIR Plan Association also told BI in a statement that the insurer is "prepared" to handle the wildfire impact, and "has payment mechanisms in place, including reinsurance, to ensure all covered claims are paid."

Representatives for Farmer's did not respond for comment.

Have you been dropped by your home insurance company or are you facing a steep premium increase? Email this reporter to share your story: [email protected].

• Polymarket lets people bet on a variety of things, like election outcomes and pop culture events.
• It's also taking bets on the Palisades fire in California — with at least nine different wagers.
• Polymarket says the wisdom of the crowd can lend "unbiased forecasts for the most important events impacting society."

As the Palisades fire is still tearing through parts of the Los Angeles area on Wednesday, Polymarket — the prediction market platform — is allowing people to place wagers on certain elements of the disaster.

There were at least nine different predictions you could place money on as of Wednesday afternoon that were related to the fire. The topic had its own trending module on the site.

One question asked: "Will the Palisades fire be contained by Friday?" Only 2% of bets said yes. (California officials said Wednesday morning that the fires raging through California are "zero percent" contained. Two people have been reported dead in the wake of the disaster.)

Each wager has its own page on the site — and on those pages with bets related to the fire was a disclaimer from Polymarket.

The disclaimer reads:

Note on Palisades Wildfire Markets: The promise of prediction markets is to harness the wisdom of the crowd to create accurate, unbiased forecasts for the most important events impacting society. The devastating Pacific Palisades fire is one such event, for which Polymarket can yield invaluable real-time answers to those directly impacted in ways traditional media cannot.

Note: There are no fees on this market.

On its site, Polymarket says that users can submit suggestions for markets, but a new prediction market, like the ones about the fire, can only be created by Polymarket.

A spokesperson for Polymarket told Business Insider: "Polymarket charges no fees — and generates no revenue — from these markets and provides them as a service to those looking for unbiased and up-to-date information during fast-moving events."

Other wagers available as of Wednesday:

• "Palisades fire burns 10,000 acres by Friday?" (Bettors said this was 99% "yes.")
• "Will Palisades fire spread to Santa Monica by Sunday?" (Bettors gave this a 14% chance.)

So far, it appears the markets have drawn only small bets, with one question drawing a little more than $8,000 and another drawing more than $30,000, according to tallies on the site.

Polymarket, where bets are placed in crypto, became popular during the 2024 election. It showed the odds of Donald Trump winning far above what traditional polls were showing.

In addition to politics and sports, Polymarket offers bets on news and pop culture topics like Oscar nominations or the odds of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce getting engaged this year.

• Hyundai CEO Jose Munoz isn't worried about Elon Musk's close relationship with Donald Trump.
• The boss of the Tesla rival told Bloomberg it may actually be good for the US auto industry.
• Musk has signaled support for cutting the EV tax credit, which he said would "devastate" Tesla's rivals.

With his close ties to President-elect Trump, Elon Musk is more influential than ever — but the boss of one of Tesla's biggest rivals isn't worried.

Hyundai CEO Jose Munoz said on Tuesday that he thinks the Tesla CEO's outsize influence over the Trump administration may actually be positive for the rest of the auto industry.

"I don't see that as a concern, honestly," Munoz said in an interview with Bloomberg.

The Hyundai CEO said he believed it was in Musk's own interests to ensure the US continued to promote EV investment and growth, and remained competitive with China's upstart electric vehicle industry.

"I think having someone who is very close to the US industry and the EV world (in that position) should be positive for the industry," Munoz added.

Musk's close relationship with Trump, which has seen the billionaire take on an advisory role to cut government spending at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has raised fears that the Tesla CEO could use his newfound influence to boost his own company and target rival automakers.

Musk has already signaled his support for cutting the $7,500 federal subsidy for new US-made electric cars, which applies to Hyundai, Ford, General Motors, and Tesla vehicles.

The SpaceX founder and analysts have both said cutting the subsidy will have a greater impact on Tesla's rivals, with Musk saying the move would "devastate" the company's competitors and benefit Tesla in the long term in a November earnings call.

Musk's DOGE cofounder Vivek Ramaswamy has also said the cost-cutting body will "carefully scrutinize" the $7.5 billion in federal loans granted by the Biden administration to Tesla rivals Rivian and Stellantis.

It comes as Hyundai and its sister company, Kia, continue to see strong electric vehicle sales in the US.

The two companies reported record EV sales in the US last year thanks to new models like the IONIQ 5 and Kia EV9. In June, their combined parent group beat out Ford and GM to briefly become the second-largest EV seller in the country behind Tesla.

Hyundai did not respond to a request for comment, sent outside normal working hours.

• BYD released a video of its $233,000 electric supercar leaping over potholes and road spikes.
• The Yangwang U9 comes with intelligent suspension that allows it to "jump" up to six meters forward.
• The U9 is part of BYD's efforts to diversify into luxury EVs as it looks to take on Tesla.

BYD's most expensive EV has a novel way of dealing with potholes.

The Chinese Tesla rival launched its first supercar, the $233,400 Yangwang U9, last year and has now shown off the luxury EV's ability to "jump" over potholes and road spikes in a new video.

In the video, released on BYD's Weibo account on Monday, an autonomously-driven U9 accelerates to 120 km/h before using its suspension to launch itself up to six meters forward over a pothole, a set of road spikes, and a chalk flag.

BYD is known for its ultra-cheap electric vehicles, such as the $10,000 Seagull, but like other Chinese automakers, it is now expanding into higher-end luxury vehicles.

The company began selling the U9, which has a top speed of 192 mph and can sprint from 0 to 62 km/h in just 2.36 seconds in February 2024.

The luxury EV can charge from 30-80% in just 10 minutes and is packed with futuristic features.

Its DiSus-X intelligent suspension allows the U9 to leap over small holes, "dance" to music, and drive with only three wheels, as the company showed off at the vehicle's launch last year.

BYD's Yangwang brand offers its most high-end models. The Yangwang U8 hybrid SUV, which BYD began selling in April 2023, comes with an onboard drone and can even float on water for short periods.

While the Tesla rival's luxury offerings frequently turn heads, BYD's in-demand affordable EVs and hybrids have turned the company into arguably Elon Musk's most potent challenger.

The Chinese automaker announced record annual sales earlier this month and is expanding into a host of new markets. BYD announced on Tuesday that it was sending nearly 5,000 electric vehicles to Europe aboard its third purpose-built container ship.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into 2.56 million Tesla vehicles after several crashes involving the automaker’s “Actual Smart Summon” remote parking feature. Tesla released Actual Smart Summon, or ASS for short, via software update in September. It allows Tesla owners to use their app to command the vehicle drive itself […]

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• Multiple major fires are tearing through parts of the Los Angeles area.
• The Palisades fire has burned through over 17,000 acres as of Thursday morning.
• A new fire broke out Wednesday evening in the Hollywood Hills.

Emergency personnel across the Los Angeles area are battling multiple major fires.

Officials have ordered over 130,000 people to evacuate, five people have been reported dead, and over a thousand structures have been destroyed.

Images of people escaping their homes, abandoning their cars, and searching for safe harbor spread across television and social media on Wednesday.

And it's showing little sign of slowing down, officials said. Dry conditions combined with high wind gusts of more than 90 miles per hour have helped fuel the multiple fires burning around the metropolitan area.

Five separate fires are now sweeping through parts of the region in and around Los Angeles after a new fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills, near the iconic Hollywood sign, on Wednesday evening. The fire forced the LA fire chief to leave in the middle of a press conference.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said during a press conference Wednesday evening that residents may receive more evacuation orders as wind conditions continue to be "strong and erratic."

In an X post in the early hours of Thursday morning, Bass said firefighters would be working through the night battling blazes in Los Angeles for the second night in a row.

"Our entire town appears to be gone," one Palisades resident told Business Insider.

According to AccuWeather's preliminary estimates, the cost of the fires could reach almost $60 billion.

Jonathan Porter, AccuWeather's chief meteorologist, said it's already one of the worst wildfires in California history.

Ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft have offered free rides to evacuation centers for Los Angeles residents.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Thursday that his company will be providing "free Starlink terminals to affected areas."

Schools in Los Angeles will be closed on Thursday, impacting more than half a million students, LA Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said.

The Eaton fire, impacting the Pasadena-Altadena region, has burned about 10,600 acres and continues to grow with 0% containment, LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said at a press conference on Wednesday. The Hurst fire, in the north of the region near San Fernando, covers over 700 acres.

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, over 26,978 acres had been burned as of 1:45 a.m. Thursday, with the Palisades Fire burning 17,234 acres, with 0% containment.

Evacuation orders and warnings continued to be issued throughout Wednesday evening, including a notice for residents living near the Hollywood Hills.

Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin said Wednesday afternoon that he hoped milder wind conditions overnight would allow for more aircraft and additional resources to be directed at the Eaton fire.

"That's what gives me confidence that we're going to get a handle on this fire," he said.

By Thursday morning, at least 130,000 people had been evacuated, a representative for CalFire told BI.

Five people have died as a result of the Eaton fire, the spokesperson said. Two firefighters were reported to have minor injuries.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, and announced that the state had secured federal assistance from FEMA to support the fire response.

"There's no fire season. It's fire year," Newsom said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, noting other fires California has faced in recent months, including the Franklin and Mountain fires. "It's year-round."

He issued an executive order on Wednesday evening to provide additional support to communities affected, and told CNN that the death toll was likely to rise.

In an X post in the early hours of Thursday, Newsom said more than 7,500 firefighting personnel, 1,162 fire engines, 6 air tankers, 31 helicopters, and 53 dozers had been deployed.

He also urged Southern California residents to remain vigilant, listen to local officials, and be ready to evacuate if they are near impacted areas.

Historic windstorm is 'worst possible scenario'

Officials have not yet determined how the fires started, but they began during a high-risk major windstorm. Combined with low humidity and dry vegetation in the region, the winds created a perfect storm for fire ignition.

High winds were "making it extremely challenging" for firefighters on the scene, Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley said, leaving them unable to air-drop water onto the fires Wednesday morning. But by the afternoon, water-dropping aircraft had returned to the skies.

The National Weather Service called the windstorm "life-threatening and destructive" and warned that these could be the strongest north winds in 14 years.

The Palisades fire alone has already become the most destructive fire ever to hit Los Angeles County, CNN reported, citing CalFire data.

Courtney Carpen, a warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said that while the worst winds had passed in southern California, "we're not out of the woods yet."

She said gusty winds are expected to continue through Friday afternoon and weather conditions to remain critically dry.

Tourist landmarks close as smoke chokes LA

The Los Angeles area is a huge tourist draw, attracting nearly 50 million visitors a year.

The fires forced some Los Angeles-area landmarks to close, including the Hollywood sign, the Los Angeles Zoo, Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal CityWalk, and the Griffith Observatory.

Even miles from the fires in South Los Angeles, smoke reduced visibility to just one block, officials said.

Airbnb told CNN that it would be allowing refunds for bookings in areas affected by the wildfires, following a viral social media post from a customer who said the company refused to offer her a refund.

A National Hockey League game between the Los Angeles Kings and the Calgary Flames, scheduled Wednesday night at Crypto.com arena, was postponed.

The 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards, set for Sunday night, were also rescheduled, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Meanwhile, police made arrests for looting in areas affected by the fires, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Wednesday.

Evacuees abandoned cars as traffic stalled

Palisades Drive, the major road out of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, was already packed with slow-moving lines of cars shortly after noon Tuesday, as people evacuated beneath a smoky haze and bright-orange flames licked the hillside in the distance, shown live on ABC7.

CalFire reported that the fire was on both sides of Palisades Drive.

ABC7 spoke to multiple people who were evacuating on foot, including some who had abandoned their cars on the road.

One resident told the news channel that "a whole bunch of neighbors" were stuck in their homes on Palisades Drive.

Jonathan Vigliotti, a CBS News correspondent who was on the ground as a neighborhood went up in flames, said on X that there was "mass panic in the streets."

The City of Pasadena has issued a water alert, advising against using tap water for drinking and cooking in the impacted areas until further notice, saying the water system may be compromised by "debris and elevated turbidity."

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's is focused on safety concerns related to the "Actually Smart Summon" (ASS) feature.

The Duchess of Sussex is "excited" to make her Instagram return after almost five years offline

Tesla is the target of yet another federal safety probe, the fourth currently open by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Office of Defects Investigation. Today's trouble concerns the automaker's "Smart Summon" and "Actually Smart Summon" features, which allow Tesla drivers to remotely control their vehicles via a smartphone app.

At least in theory, that is. In practice, NHTSA says it's aware of multiple crash allegations "where the user had too little reaction time to avoid a crash, either with the available line of sight or releasing the phone app button, which stops the vehicle’s movement."

Worse yet, Tesla has failed to report any of these incidents to the safety regulator, which has a standing general order that requires any automaker or operator of autonomous or partially automated vehicles to report crashes involving such systems that occur on publicly accessible roads.

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The annual Consumer Electronics Show got underway in Las Vegas this week, but Winter Storm Blair unraveled my plan to be on the ground to check things out in person. That means I still haven't had an in-person look at the Sony Honda Mobility Afeela, a new electric sedan that goes on sale in California later this year.

Sony stunned everyone by first showing off an electric concept car at CES in 2020. Meant to showcase the Japanese technology company's wide range of products, from sensors to digital entertainment, the concept left many scratching their heads about Sony's true intention here—surely the company wasn't also about to start making cars?

But that turned out to be exactly the plan. Although Sony began developing its EV with the contract manufacturer (and tier 1 supplier) Magna Steyr, the car—now called the Afeela 1—will be built by Honda, which formed a strategic alliance with Sony to create the aforementioned Sony Honda Mobility, which will sell the new car.

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• A friend of Charlie Munger's says Munger doubled his money on a contrarian bet soon before his death.
• The friend, Li Lu, gave an interview in which he discussed Munger's careful approach to investing.
• Li also described dramatically different approaches to risk tolerance between Munger and Elon Musk.

Charlie Munger was still sniffing out bargains and scoring big gains at age 99, says a close friend of the late investing icon.

Munger, Warren Buffett's business partner and Berkshire Hathaway's vice chairman for more than four decades, died in late November 2023, about a month shy of his 100th birthday.

In a rare interview marking the first anniversary of Munger's death, Li Lu told the Chinese social network Zhenge Island that one of Munger's last moves was a contrarian bet.

"There was a stock that everyone disliked, and it might not be particularly politically correct," Li said. But that didn't stop Munger from studying the company and buying its shares, continued the Himalaya Capital Management founder, whom Munger once described as the "Chinese Warren Buffett."

"The week before he died, this stock had doubled from the time he started investing to that time," Li said. It's unclear which stock he was referring to. Li didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Li said the wager showed Munger retained his passion for investing until the end and "could still go against the market consensus and live to see this stock double." He said the stock remained "in the Munger family portfolio" and was "still performing very well."

Li was the only person apart from Buffett who Munger trusted to invest his family's money. He introduced Munger to BYD, the Chinese EV maker that's been one of Berkshire's best investments over the past decade.

Describing Munger's careful approach toward investing, in his interview with Zhenge Island he also seemed to allude to a story Munger had discussed at Daily Journal's annual meeting in 2017, saying Munger "read Barron's magazine every week for 50 years and only made one investment."

"In 50 years I found one investment opportunity in Barron's, out of which I made about $80 million with almost no risk," Munger said in 2017. "I took the $80 million and gave it to Li Lu, who turned it into $400 to $500 million. So I have made $400 to 500 million out of reading Barron's for 50 years and following one idea."

Munger added further details, indicating that the stock was an auto supply company named Tenneco that Apollo Global Management acquired in late 2022. He said that he made 15 times his money on the stock in about two years and that it took him only 90 minutes of research to pull the trigger after reading about it.

Lunch with Elon Musk

Li recalled a lunch with Munger and Elon Musk in which he said the Tesla and SpaceX CEO tried to win Munger's investment. He said the discussion showed their similar thinking on subjects such as batteries and science but also their stark differences in risk appetite. While Musk was willing to do things with only a 5% chance of success, he said, Munger "may need more than 80% chance of success before he will do it."

Musk has previously discussed meeting Munger. Early in 2023 he posted on X that "Munger could've invested in Tesla at ~$200M valuation when I had lunch with him in late 2008." Musk's automaker went on to become one of the world's largest companies and is now worth about $1.3 trillion.

"I was at a lunch with Munger in 2009 where he told the whole table all the ways Tesla would fail," Musk wrote in another post. "Made me quite sad, but I told him I agreed with all those reasons & that we would probably die, but it was worth trying anyway."

Correction: January 7, 2025 — This story was updated to reflect that it wasn't clear from Li Lu's interview where Charlie Munger got the idea for the contrarian bet that Li said Munger made at age 99. The story also misstated when Elon Musk posted one of his comments about Munger. It was in early 2023, not early last year.

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