Reported insured losses from three California fires now stand at $104 million, an insurance association official said, and a catastrophe modeling firm estimated they could hit $500 million.
Fires erupted last Thursday, consuming more than 43,000 acres and destroying or damaging more than 1,000 residences and other structures.
The last of the three fires the Sayre Fire in Los Angeles County was reported 85 percent contained today, while the Tea and Freeway Complex fires are 100 percent contained.
So far approximately 900 claims have been filed with insurers amounting to about $104 million in insured losses, but that number is expected to rise as more claims come in, said Tully Lehman, a spokesman with the Insurance Information Network of California. He said the figure is expected to change daily.
A spokesman for State Farm, the state's largest homeowner insurer, said as of Wednesday, the company received about 450 claims from the three fires.
The catastrophe modeling firm, Oakland, Calif.-based EQECAT, put out a loss estimate at $300-$500 million.
Based on demographics and 10 year loss aggregate calculations, the Tea fire is considered the worst event, said EQECAT, while the other two were not considered extreme losses.
Despite the loss of about 500 mobile homes alone in the Los Angeles area, the Sayre Fire was not considered an extreme loss, from a catastrophe perspective, because of the high population in the vicinity, EQECAT said.
To help victims of the fire, California's Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner issued an insurance emergency declaration Monday that allows insurers to use non-state licensed adjusters to settle claims.
The commissioner also dispatched a disaster fraud task force to the area of the three fires to deal with any cases of suspected fraud.
"Hundreds of people have lost their homes during this last week's wildfires and we must do everything we can to make sure their insurance claims are handled as quickly as possible," said Mr. Poizner in a statement.
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