Insurance Claims From California Wildfires Near $12 Billion
VENTURA (CBSLA/AP) — Insurance claims from last year's deadly California wildfires have reached $11.8 billion, making it the most expensive series of wildfires in state history, an official said Wednesday.
The staggering number exceeds the total insurance claims from the top 10 previously most costly wildfires in California.
Until last year, California's most expensive single fire was the 1991 Oakland Hills fire that prompted $2.7 billion in claims in today's dollars, according to data from the Insurance Information Institute.
If treated as one disaster, the combined fires in October and December 2017 "represent one of the most damaging natural catastrophes in California history," Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said at a news conference in Los Angeles.
For comparison, insured losses from the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the costliest quake to strike the United States, were nearly $26 billion in 2017 dollars, according to data from the insurance institute.
Nearly $1.8 billion of the 2017 insurance claims stem from fires that swept through Southern California in December, a rare winter fire whipped by fierce winds. The Thomas Fire that raged across Ventura and Santa Barbara counties became the largest by acreage in state history, charring 282,000 acres, or 440 square miles — larger than the city of San Diego.
An army of more than 8,000 firefighters from all over the state were called in to battle the Thomas Fire, which destroyed more than 1,000 structures and was blamed for the deaths of 2 people, including firefighter Corey Iverson.
The figures for Southern California are likely to grow as more people get through the time-consuming process of filing a claim.
The totals do not include claims related to mudslides that buried homes and vehicles in Montecito when torrential rain fell on hillsides burned in the December fires.
Insurance claims from a series of October fires grew to $10 billion, nearly all of them in Northern California's wine country.
Crews this week finished removing debris from the devastated Coffey Park neighborhood in Santa Rosa, a tidy urban community that was leveled when flames rushed through in the middle of the night.
Jones said the combined firestorms damaged or destroyed 32,000 homes, 4,300 businesses and more than 8,200 vehicles, boats and other equipment. Dozens of people were killed.
The figures do not reflect losses suffered by people who were uninsured or at schools and other public buildings.
Jones said insurers have enough reserves to pay the massive claims. But he said the fires may prompt them to re-evaluate the fire risk and raise premiums — or decline to sell insurance at all — especially for homes near forested areas.
Here are some key numbers encompassing the Thomas fire and six other significant blazes during December in Southern California:
NUMBER OF MAJOR WILDFIRES: 7.
AREA BURNED: 481 square miles.
DEATHS: 1 civilian, 1 firefighter.
NON-FATAL INJURIES: 12 firefighters, 7 civilians.
HOMES AND OTHER BUILDINGS DESTROYED: 1,355.
EVACUATIONS: The fires prompted orders for more than 200,000 people to leave their homes.
ESTIMATED LOSSES IN BUILDINGS, CARS AND EQUIPMENT: $1.8 billion.
Sources: U.S. Forest Service, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and California Insurance Department.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
