The devastating wildfires in Southern California have cost dozens of lives, destroyed thousands of buildings and blackened tens of thousands of acres. And for some other financial professionals, the ongoing tragedy has changed their lives forever.
Michael A. Rosen, chief investment officer at Angeles Investments, described in a recent blog post what he saw firsthand as his home in Pacific Palisades went up in flames and the ordeal he faced thereafter.
“I saw the flames starting on a hilltop to the north,” he wrote. “This is not uncommon in California, and I thought it would soon be brought under control. Mother Nature had a different idea.”
Pacific Palisades, Rosen wrote, “has a strong identity, it’s a pretty close-knit community. We have our share of celebrities, but most people are working professionals: law, finance, writers, agents, etc. Nestled on a bluff between Santa Monica and Malibu, it is a bit isolated, which fosters a heightened sense of community.”
Fires in the mountains were expected, Rosen noted, and “we thought our emergency teams were prepared for that. Fire cutting through the town to the ocean was not, expected or prepared for.”
Rosen said his wife Linda was prepared and that she quickly gathered most of the family heirlooms and photos, and loaded the car while he returned to the house to collect what he could think of as he saw the flames approach down the hillside, still thinking the fire would never actually reach his home.
“The house our children grew up in, with all the memories of birthday parties, sleepovers, concerts, dinner parties and holidays, is gone, subsumed in flames and left in ashes,” Rosen added. “There is little time to grieve. With 10,000 families all suddenly looking for housing, and large parts of the city off-limits with fires still burning, our first priority was to secure a place to live. Many friends opened their homes to us, and there has been an outpouring, truly, of generosity across the city, but we knew we couldn’t stay in a guest room for long. We ran from one rental listing to another, encountering hundreds of families doing the same.”
Rosen’s wife eventually found a house, noting that the “woman who owns it fell in love with our golden retriever and rented us her house.” If not for Linda and their dog Quinto, Rosen commented, he would still be homeless and hopeless. Angeles has $40.4 billion in assets under supervision.
Asset managers, pension funds
Fires have also disrupted the operations of some pension funds and asset managers based in the region.
Among the four major conflagrations in the region, as of Jan. 16, the Hurst Fire in Los Angeles County is 98% contained, the Auto Fire in Ventura County is 85% contained, and the Eaton Fire in Los Angeles County is 55% contained. However, the Pacific Palisades fire, which has already burned nearly 24,000 acres, is still only 22% contained.
For Katie Koch, the president and CEO of TCW, the fires have drastically impacted her life.
In a memo to staff on Jan. 8, the day after the wildfires first swept through the area, Koch wrote that a number of the company’s employees had been displaced by the inferno and some have lost their homes completely, including that of her own family.
“Even after the fires are contained and the devastation can be assessed, the recovery process is certain to be long for both the L.A. area and many among our TCW family,” she added.
A spokesperson at money manager TCW Group said the company’s Los Angeles headquarters is “fully operational to serve our clients’ needs, and we always maintain the ability to shift workflows to other TCW offices in the U.S. and around the globe if necessary.”
The spokesperson also said that all of the firm’s L.A. team members are safe and accounted for.
“We are communicating regularly with employees about the situation and available resources,” the spokesperson added. “TCW is offering affected employees a range of resources including temporary hotel accommodation, work from home, assistance with childcare, and an employee assistance program to support well-being and disaster recovery for employees and their families.”
Todd Molz, chief operating officer at Oaktree Capital Management, said the firm’s Los Angeles headquarters office is open for normal business operations, and its office facilities and information technology infrastructure were not impacted by the fires.
“Our datacenter in Los Angeles is equipped with back-up power and is available without interruption in the event of regional or localized power outages caused by the wildfires,” he said. “We are actively monitoring the wildfire status and evacuation zones for potential impacts on our critical business processes and further impacts on our employees.”
Molz also noted that Oaktree has more than 700 employees in the area, “many of whom have been impacted in different ways. Patience, understanding, and flexibility are key during this challenging and dynamic situation.”
Oaktree, he added, is deploying a variety of resources, from temporary housing solutions to backup childcare to physical and mental health benefits, to “ensure they have what they need in this challenging time.”
Oaktree has $205 billion in AUM.
The $82.2 billion Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, Pasadena, Calif., posted a notice on its website which stated that due to the ongoing wildfires, LACERA’s Pasadena offices will remain closed at least through Jan. 17, although its call center will be available on weekdays from 7 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
“We are conducting regular operations virtually and are contacting all members with in-person appointments to reschedule,” LACERA added in the notice.
In a “special message” to its pension plan members on its website, the $33 billion Los Angeles Fire & Police Pensions, which represents many of the firefighters and first responders batting the flames, said that it recognizes “the toll that such intense and sustained efforts may take and we want to ensure that our members and their families have the support they need during these challenging times.”
LAFPP assured that its “offices remain open and ready to assist you with all services.”
Tim Tarpening, managing director and portfolio strategist at Pacific Income Advisers, said his firm, which relocated from Santa Monica to El Segundo in June 2022, has largely avoided any direct impact from the fires as most of its employees live in the South Bay region of Los Angeles, which has not been affected.
However, he noted that one team member, who lived in Pacific Palisades, lost his home, while the son of another employee attended Palisades High School, which has burned to the ground.
“For the most part our firm has been very fortunate,” Tarpening added. “That said, we all have friends and/or family that have been directly impacted and, in several cases, have lost their homes. I have personally been evacuated three times from our Santa Barbara home. Yet, these L.A. fires are the worst I’ve ever experienced.”
PIA has about $2 billon in AUM.
A spokesperson for Capital Group stated: “All of our associates are safe. Our offices in Southern California (downtown Los Angeles, West Los Angeles, and Irvine) all remain open and are not impacted by the fires. All business operations are running as normal.”
On the companies LinkedIn page, Capital Group stated: “we are working closely with all impacted associates to assist them with access to short and medium-term accommodation, insurance guidance and emergency funds. For those who have suffered catastrophic loss, we’ve created a special Capital Group Natural Disaster Associate Relief Fund.”
Capital Group has $2.7 trillion in AUM.
A spokesperson for Franklin Templeton, which is headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., in Northern California, said in a statement that the firm “has not had any major issues at our offices in the Los Angeles area, and we are continuing to monitor the situation.”
Local employees, the Franklin spokesperson added, have been working remotely and work has been transferred to other U.S. or global sites as needed. Franklin has about $1.6 trillion in AUM.
According to The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Los Angeles wildfires, which erupted on Jan. 7, has now claimed at least 24 lives, destroyed over 12,000 homes and buildings and scorched more than 40,000 acres.
The preliminary estimate of the total damage and economic loss arising from the fires range between $250 billion and $275 billion, according to weather-data platform AccuWeather. This figure already surpasses the $225 to $250 billion estimate for damages and economic loss arising from Hurricane Helene which struck the Florida Gulf Coast in September 2024.
“These fast-moving, wind-driven infernos have created one of the costliest wildfire disasters in modern U.S. history,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said in a statement. “Hurricane-force winds sent flames ripping through neighborhoods filled with multi-million-dollar homes. The devastation left behind is heartbreaking, and the economic toll is staggering."