State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

California wildfire becomes most expensive in U.S. history

American City and County: A massive California wildfire that has burned continuously for two and a half months has become the most expensive wildfire in U.S. history.

The Soberanes Fire, which began burning as an illegal camp fire on July 22 in Garrapata State Park, has spread to 132,069 acres as of Oct. 1, according to The Mercury News. The fire has scorched much of Monterey County, Calif., but is now 94 percent contained.

Getting to that containment percentage has cost $235 million, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. California Interagency Incident Management Team 1 estimated that the daily cost of fighting the fire had peaked at $8 million, but fell to $2 million in mid-September, The Mercury News reports.

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