Are cars 'structures'? Here's a look at how damage is tallied in devastating Los Angeles wildfires

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.

Officials examined the images and excluded any that appeared to be vehicles, Thomas said — for example, if it was clearly in a driveway, or along the side of a road where there were no homes. Sixteen teams are examining the damage from the ground and will conclusively determine how many structures were destroyed before reaching a final count, which will not include vehicles.

“We have a lot of things in it that aren’t really structures,” Thomas said. “If there’s any question, they err on the side of caution” by including it.

Thus, the final tally of destroyed structures could be lower than the 12,000 estimate officials have given.

“We're trying to be transparent and say, 'This is what we're doing,' but then we have to go back and explain, 'Well, here's why cars might be counted,'” Thomas said.

Structures that can be counted include freestanding outbuildings, such as a garage, shed or pool house.