(LOS ANGELES) -- Los Angeles residents who fled devastating wildfires are facing a huge recovery and rebuilding effort, as they gather what they can from ruins that were once their homes.
As firefighters continue a massive effort to contain and subdue the historic infernos, Angelenos are grappling with unthinkable loss.
Mike Geller and his 18-year-old son spoke with ABC News among the rubble of Palisades Village, where their family's 50-year-old jewelry business once stood.
"My family has been doing jewelry servicing of the community for almost three generations," Geller explained as he pointed to the school next door. "My mother ran this business prior to me, when I was going to elementary school here."
Now 48, Geller said he's facing the reality of being forced to start over completely. His business -- Jaimie Geller Jewelry -- his home, car, truck, motorcycle and the personal belongings of his family of five all burned in the Palisades Fire.
"Thank God I was able to retrieve my birth certificate," he said. "But every possession my children have accumulated... gone, decimated."
"I'm in shock," Geller added. "I'm not even sure how I'm talking to you. I'm absolutely in shock. I'm just going through the motions. It hasn't really set in yet."
Geller filed personal insurance claims, though he said he has no clue when any of them will be processed.
Geller said he and many of the older people in the Palisades don't have the means to wait months -- if not years -- and rebuild.
"There are people on the Alphabet Streets who bought their homes for $75,000, $50,000," Geller said. "Those people will not be able to come back. And if they do and they have insurance, will they rebuild? Look, if I'm 75, 80 years old... how much time do I have?"
"It's about quality of life," he continued. "If it takes me three years to rebuild, how much more time do I actually have left at that point?"
The Palisades Fire that consumed Geller's home and business is still burning. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the blaze was at 23,713 acres with only 14% containment as of Monday morning.
The Eaton Fire north of Pasadena -- at 14,117 acres and 33% containment -- is also still raging, as is the Hurst Fire near San Fernando, which is now 799 acres in size though 89% contained.
More than 12,000 structures are believed to have been damaged or destroyed, with at least 24 people killed. About 105,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders and another 87,000 are under evacuation warnings as of Monday morning.
A preliminary damage estimate by AccuWeather put the economic losses so far between $135 billion and $150 billion, which would put the fires among the costliest natural disasters in American history. High winds forecast through Wednesday threaten to spread the fires further.
Geller's family and many others are now trying to piece together a plan, even as the smoke from the wildfires hangs heavy over their ravaged neighborhood.
"My wife and I are even considering whether or not we rebuild, really, but at this point with the insurance companies, it's a smoother transaction," Geller said. "It's a smoother road if you rebuild."
In the meantime, he's staying in a hotel. Fire victims here are in desperate need of affordable housing, according to Geller. He's found shelter but said it's not sustainable.
"It's insanity," he said. "Hotels are packed to the gills. Shelters are packed to the gills."
"Hopefully a lot of these elderly have children," Geller said. "I pray that they have some means of finding a place to stay, you know -- get in and be a home base and just somewhere where they can just recuperate their mindset."
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