California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has reported that insurers have received nearly 45,000 insurance claims totaling more than $11.79 billion in losses from the wildfires that burned across the state in October and December 2017 damaging and destroying more than 32,000 homes, 4,300 businesses, more than 8,200 vehicles, watercraft, farm vehicles, and other equipment.
These totals do not include any losses related to the Montecito mudslides.
"At nearly $12 billion in insured losses, these claim numbers are staggering and represent the costliest fires in California history," said Commissioner Dave Jones. "The fires were unprecedented for their severity and disastrous consequences. Whole neighborhoods were wiped out, as wind-driven flames destroyed thousands of homes, upended tens of thousands of residents' lives, and tragically killed more than 45 people across the state."
Commissioner Jones previously issued a formal notice to insurers asking them to waive the requirement for policyholders to submit a detailed home inventory and pay up to 100 percent of contents coverage to spare survivors the task of trying to recreate lists of every item they lost in the fires.
Insurers that agreed to the commissioner's notice made up more than 98 percent of the total loss claims filed as a result of the 2017 wildfires, the Department of Insurance said in a statement. It added that it is communicating with insurers that have not agreed to increase their advance payment on contents claims to determine if they will reconsider their position.