SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Insurance claims from California’s deadly November 2018 wildfires have topped $11.4 billion, making the series of fires one of the most expensive in state history, officials said Monday.
More than $8 billion of those losses are from the fire that leveled the town of Paradise, killing 86 people and destroying roughly 15,000 homes, state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said. Roughly $3 billion worth of damage is related to two Southern California wildfires that ignited during the same week. “We have a long way to go before we can feel whole again,” Lara said after announcing the numbers.
The $11.4 billion total is slightly below the losses claimed from 2017 wildfires that ripped through Northern California wine country in October and Southern California in December.
While far more houses were destroyed in last year’s wildfires, home values are much lower in rural California communities, officials said last year.
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