California wildfires costliest in history

A major wildfire outbreak that erupted in portions of California starting during the month of October is set to become the costliest insured wildfire in history, according to the Aon Benfield’s Global Catastrophe Recap report for October.

The wildfires killed at least 43 people and injured 185 others. Nearly two-dozen fires ignited as the blazes – notably the Central LNU Complex Fire around the town of Santa Rosa –aggregated together as the most damaging event on record in the state.

Data from CalFire indicated that nearly 9,300 structures were damaged, of which more than 8,560 were destroyed. The worst damage was noted in Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake, Solano, Butte, and Yuba counties.

The California Department of Insurance cited that at least 19,000 residential, commercial and auto claims had already been filed with payouts exceeding $3.32 billion. This total was expected to rise to as high as $8.0 billion as additional claims are processed. On aggregated basis, this is costliest insured wildfire event ever recorded, according to the report.