The death toll from the two wildfires that destroyed vast swaths of Los Angeles County in early 2025 is much higher than previously reported, a new study says.
Researchers say the Eaton and Palisades wildfires led to some 440 wildfire-related deaths between Jan. 5 and Feb. 1, the causes of which range from exposure to poor air quality to health care delays, according to the study published Aug. 6 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Officially, the blazes have been tied to 31 deaths – a figure that researchers say does not come close to capturing the true toll of the fires.
See more: An aerial view of the LA fires. Neighborhoods torched, communities look like war zones
“The official estimates are barely scraping the surface,” Andrew Stokes, one of the authors of the study and an associate professor at Boston University, told SFGate. “I think there’s likely to be a massive undercount when it comes to wildfire deaths, both in Los Angeles County, but also in other areas where wildfires have occurred, including in Northern California and Hawaii.”
