Insured losses from the fires that swept across Southern California last fall are expected to exceed $3 billion and perhaps double the national record for such a disaster, a leading insurance association said yesterday. "To date, we‘ve paid out over $2 billion. It is the largest fire in the history of America," said Dan Dunmoyer, president of the Personal Insurance Federation, which includes most of the state‘s biggest underwriters.
The $1.7 billion Oakland Hills fire of 1991 had been the costliest modern-day inferno, although the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 ranked higher in inflation-adjusted dollars, an industry spokesman said.
Wildfires that erupted in Southern California in late October killed 24 people and destroyed 3,670 homes and businesses. The devastation covered 750,000 acres. In San Diego County, the fires killed 17 people, destroyed more than 2,400 homes and burned more than 376,000 acres.
