Daniel Brown uses a chat app with his mother while surveying damage to his home after a fire tore through his neighborhood in Lower Lake, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. People forced to flee a massive wildfire in mountains north of San Francisco heaped anger on a man who authorities believe set the blaze that wiped out several blocks of a small town. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)
Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones revealed that insurers have received nearly 45,000 insurance claims totaling more than $11.79 billion in losses after a spell of wildfires affected California in the last three months of 2017.
Thirty-two thousand (32,000) homes, 4,300 businesses, and 8,200 vehicles, watercraft, farm vehicles and other equipment have been destroyed.
"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," said Jones.
Jones issued formal notices to insurers as the destruction unfolded. One asked insurers to waive the requirement for policyholders to submit a detailed home inventory and pay up to 100% of contents coverage to spare survivors the burden of listing every item lost in the fires. Insurers that did agree to Jones' request make more than 98% of the total loss claims filed. The California Department of Insurance continues to work with insurers who have not agreed with the request to determine if they will reconsider their position.
While affected residents continue to receive assistance, the department must deal with another natural disaster as mudslides struck the coastal town of Montecito shortly after the new year started.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Denny Jacob
Denny Jacob is an associate editor for NU PropertyCasualty360. Contact him at [email protected].
