The extent of the damage from wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area is horrific however it’s tallied: Neighborhoods have been erased, landmarks destroyed and lives lost. But officials have prompted some confusion by suggesting their count of “structures” damaged — more than 12,000 — includes not just homes, apartments and businesses, but also vehicles.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone is among the leaders who have said the estimate includes vehicles — a caveat not typically made when authorities estimate fire damage. As California’s wildfire agency quickly listed the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires among the state’s most destructive, that led to questions about whether the count was comparing apples and oranges.
Chris Thomas, a spokesman for the unified incident command at the Palisades fire, said Friday that the initial estimate is based on infrared imaging taken during overhead flight, and it’s not always easy to tell from that altitude whether a burned-out shape was a pickup truck, say, or a shed…