Burglary of empty homes rampant due to LA wildfires… There are also cases of suspected arson on some local lines.

Take advantage of the fact that alarms, etc. do not work due to power outages.
“20 suspects of looting and theft arrested after forest fire”

As the forest fire that broke out on the 7th (local time) in Los Angeles (LA), the largest city in the western United States, is still not extinguished, people are taking advantage of the chaos to rob empty houses.

LA on the 9th (local time)NBC News and others reported on this day that the county police said that burglaries targeting empty homes are rampant as residents evacuate to avoid forest fires. LA County police say this is happening all over the county. Burglars from empty homes commit these crimes by targeting home alarms and security cameras not working properly due to power outages caused by fires. Accordingly, local police are strengthening patrols to prevent looting.

LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said, “We arrested 20 people suspected of looting and theft after the wildfire broke out,” and warned, “We will never tolerate illegal acts taking advantage of the wildfire crisis.” “We are actively patrolling to protect our communities from looting and crime,” he said, adding, “Any outsiders wandering in areas where mandatory evacuation orders have been issued are subject to arrest.”

In addition, there are reports of fires starting due to arson in areas that were not affected by forest fires. Andrew Huberman, a famous podcaster living in LA, released a video on He said, “People are lighting fires in areas that have not been affected by forest fires,” and “because of arson, surrounding trees are burning.” In this video, many people, including Elon Musk, left comments deploring the reality.

Meanwhile, there are dark predictions that this LA wildfire will record the highest amount of damage among wildfires in history. On the 9th, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the economic loss caused by the LA wildfires is estimated to reach $50 billion (approximately KRW 73 trillion), citing the results of a survey by JP Morgan analyst Jimmy Boulart. This is more than twice the amount estimated the previous day. WSJ estimated that the amount of damage that insurance companies must cover is $20 billion (about 29.2 trillion won). So far, the highest insured loss among U.S. wildfires was the northern California wildfire that occurred in 2018, with insured losses reaching $12.5 billion (approximately 18.25 trillion won).

According to foreign media such as the Associated Press and CNN, as of 9 p.m. on the 9th, five large-scale forest fires are continuing in LA County. The number of deaths due to this is 10, and the number of victims is expected to increase in the future. The Consulate General in Los Angeles announced that it has determined that there have been no casualties among Koreans due to the fire.

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