The fire cost at least $6 billion (2018 USD) in property damage. The entire sparsely populated portion of the Malibu coast west to the community of Solromar, which includes state and national parklands, suffered damage from the fire. The mitigation measures Pepperdine University had in place successfully protected the campus, with students sheltering in place, to the south. Many of these were on Point Dume that juts out from the narrow coastal terrace that lies between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Hundreds of houses in Malibu were destroyed or damaged on both sides of Pacific Coast Highway. The fire raced through the chaparral-covered steep canyons where it encountered historic movie and TV sets, small ranches, and the houses of celebrities. The Ventura freeway between the San Fernando Valley and the Conejo Valley was closed as the fire crossed and headed into the rugged Santa Monica Mountains. The Santa Ana winds, which often are a factor for Southern California fires, pushed the fire in a southerly direction throughout the first day.
The fire started in Woolsey Canyon on the Santa Susana Field Laboratory property, and burned 80% of the site, a complex of industrial research and development buildings belonging to Boeing, in the Santa Susana Mountains above the Simi Valley near the boundary between Los Angeles and Ventura counties. It was one of several fires in California that ignited on the same day, along with the nearby Hill Fire and the destructive Camp Fire in Northern California. The fire destroyed 1,643 structures, killed three people, and prompted the evacuation of more than 295,000 people. The fire ignited on November 8, 2018, and burned 96,949 acres (39,234 hectares) of land. The Woolsey Fire was a wildfire that burned in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties of the U.S. Show map of the Los Angeles metropolitan area