Insurers have paid more than $22.4 bn on wildfire claims tied to the Los Angeles wildfires that erupted on Jan. 7 last year, according to figures released by the California Department of Insurance.
The data shows 42,121 claims filed, with 94% fully or partially paid. Of those, 39,677 claims received advance partial payments under state rules designed to speed recovery.
Denni Ritter, vice president for state government relations at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, said insurers remain focused on helping Californians rebuild after what he described as devastating Southern California wildfires.
January’s Los Angeles fires did most of the work. Add in severe convective storms across the US, and insured catastrophe losses in 2025 are set to push past $100 bn for the sixth year in a row, according to the Swiss Re Institute.
The fires forced a reckoning. Several insurers moved to restrict or stop writing homeowners cover in high-risk areas. Regulators responded.
California’s insurance department rolled out rule changes aimed at accelerating rate approvals and allowing broader use of catastrophe models, hoping carriers might reconsider their retreat.
State Farm, the state’s largest homeowners insurer, secured approval for a 17% rate increase after absorbing billions in wildfire losses. The company had already pulled back from writing new policies. In May, it asked for even higher rates.
Roughly 11,000 homes were destroyed. The fires didn’t create California’s homeowners insurance crisis, but they put it under harsh light.
Tensions escalated further when some wildfire victims urged Governor Gavin Newsom to call for the resignation of Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara.
Those calls, which said an agreement between Lara and several insurers, meant to slow carrier exits, allowed companies to drop tens of thousands of policyholders ahead of the Los Angeles fires.
Total insured losses from the wildfires are estimated at $30 bn to $40 bn. Several carriers, including State Farm, have already reported paying more than $1 bn each. And the bills, honestly, aren’t finished yet.
The Palisades and Eaton wildfires, which began in January, could result in insured losses reaching $75 bn, according to a February report from UCLA. The proportion of those losses tied to fine art, collectibles, and classic cars remains uncertain.
Due to the scale of destruction, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara approved a $1 bn assessment on California property insurers. This funding will help the California FAIR Plan continue processing claims from fires that damaged or destroyed over 16,250 structures last month.
The fires have affected a wide range of specialty items, from private collections to museum exhibits. Meeler explained that Hagerty acted quickly in response to the disaster, encouraging members to relocate vehicles when possible and shifting claims support teams to priority status. The company also established an in-person support center and began issuing payments promptly.
One challenge in wildfire claims involves documentation. It’s common for customers to lose both their car and the paperwork. We’ve implemented processes to expedite title reissuance, which helps speed up claims.
Markel Group Inc. has also been impacted. CFO Brian Costanzo stated in a recent earnings call that the fires could result in losses between $90 mn and $130 mn for the first quarter. Markel’s fine art and specie coverage includes art, bullion, and precious metals, with policy limits of $120 mn on its own and $100 mn through Lloyd’s.
