Claims News Service, Nov. 19, 9:49 a.m. EST — In a year that has seen near-record numbers of tornadoes, the return of land-falling hurricanes, and hail storms that have topped $200 million in losses, 2008 is adding one more natural disaster to its checklist: Wildfires.

Although several wildfires exploded in Southern California in October, recent weekend wildfires fanned by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds are much more intense and are forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes in parts of Southern California. Early estimates from Guy Carpenter indicate that more than 950 homes, ranging from multi-million-dollar mansions to more modest mobile homes, have been destroyed. Thousands more remain under threat from the fires that stretch from Santa Barbara to Southeast Los Angeles. More than 42,000 acres of land has been destroyed, and property losses could total more than $500 million.

Two fires — referred to as the Sayre Fire and the Triangle Complex Fire — are only partially contained. The Sayre Fire is located in Los Angeles County and accounts for more than 615 damaged or destroyed structures. The Triangle Complex Fire is burning in Orange and Riverside Counties and has damaged or destroyed 259 residencies, with more than 1,000 still threatened.

The American Insurance Association (AIA) reported that P&C insurance companies are already reaching out to policyholders to begin the process of recovering and rebuilding. “Insurers are fully committed to helping affected policyholders recover in the days and weeks ahead,” said Gov. Marc Racicot, president of AIA. “[Our] member companies, their agents, and claim adjusters have sent experienced catastrophe teams into the five counties impacted and are on the ground and available to begin processing claims. The insurance industry plans for catastrophes such as this and is both solidly capitalized and financially prepared to respond to this latest disaster.”

Indeed, State Farm, California's largest insurer of homes and vehicles, reported that it has sent hundreds of its agents, agents' staff members, local claim representatives, and members of its catastrophe team to the scene. In addition, it has deployed two Mobile Catastrophe Command Centers from its Illinois home office. Each command center is a self-contained, claim handling office housing 12 independent workstations that help expedite the claim-filing process through links to policyholder data via satellite. The company reported more than 100 claims as of Sunday, Nov. 16.

Also helping out is California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, who declared an insurance emergency this week that allows insurance companies to use out-of-state adjusters to more quickly work through impending fire claims.

The California Department of Insurance reported, however, that it has issued licenses to approximately 1,500 resident independent adjusters who are well versed in the California Fair Claims settlement practices regulations. Poizner encouraged carriers to utilize these resident independent adjusters first before employing out-of-state resources.

Interested in more catastrophe news and in-depth articles? Head over to Claims' catastrophe channel for more information.

Special Reports /

Wildfires Add to Catastrophe Counts

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